WASHINGTON (12 March) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Member of the Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism, today released the following statement after the subcommittee’s hearing on southern border violence:
“The escalating violence stemming from Mexico's drug war is making the border increasingly dangerous for our border personnel and citizens living in border communities. I am concerned that our brave Customs officers and Border Patrol agents may be under-armed and out-gunned in the fight to stop this violence and protect lawful border crossers.
“I am going to demand that those who are on the front lines of this battle get the training, resources, and support they need to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible. We must act decisively to speed completion of the border fence, better equip our border officers and agents, and return the use of National Guard troops to the border to support and enhance our border security and enforcement efforts. To do anything less would be a disservice to our border personnel and leave open a door through which criminals, drug smugglers, human traffickers, and terrorists can go to destroy the fundamental fabric of our society.”
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported that since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2009 (through February 28 of this year) there have been 338 acts of violence against Border Patrol Agents and 123 acts of violence against Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs) at the ports of entry.
WASHINGTON (4 March) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), the only Florida member on the House Homeland Security Committee, today released the following statement after the selection of Florida emergency management director Craig Fugate as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency:
WASHINGTON (13 February) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, today released the following statement after the House passed the Conference Report to H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
“Our nation is in recession and millions of Americans are hurting, which is why Congress should have put politics aside, and gotten this right.
“We began the 111th Congress with promises of change and smarter government; instead Congressional Democrats have produced a bill that does nothing to aid small businesses and will not spur economic growth according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“Any stimulus must create jobs in a timely and targeted fashion. This so-called stimulus bill is simply a long wish list of big government spending that doesn’t meet that standard and will hand a huge ‘IOU’ to our children and grandchildren. It also must include rigorous oversight to ensure that this massive sum of taxpayer dollars is not wasted through mismanagement as with the bailouts that I opposed.
“I maintain that the best way to create economic growth is to allow the American taxpayers to keep more of their own money to spend. We should be enacting focused and timely tax relief which would create jobs and lower the burden on families and small businesses.
“The plan I supported would have created twice the jobs at half the cost for hard working Floridians, including 141,000 more jobs in Florida. It also did not include wasteful, untargeted pork that plagues the legislation passed by Congress today.”
WASHINGTON (4 February) – Today U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.) was selected to serve as Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight. Bilirakis' move to this position is especially important to the state of Florida, since he represents the state’s only member on the Committee.
WASHINGTON (28 January) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.) released the following statement after opposing the massive spending bill before the House.
WASHINGTON (23 January) – On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), joined a bipartisan group of Representatives in reintroducing legislation that would create a national silver alert communications network and establish a national grant program to help states launch ‘Silver Alert’ notification systems to locate missing individuals suffering from dementia-related illnesses.
WASHINGTON (21 January) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), today opposed passage of the TARP Reform and Accountability Act (H.R. 384) which will expand Treasury’s authority to distribute Troubled Asset Relief (TARP) funds.
WASHINGTON (9 January) - U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, today sent a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) urging him to include proposals Bilirakis has made in economic stimulus legislation now making its way through Congress.
WASHINGTON (14 January) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, today presented an amendment before the House Rules Committee to the TARP Reform and Accountability Act (H.R. 384) which would require financial institutions receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to disclose the compensation of their highest paid executives and employees, and require the Treasury to list the information in an online public database.
WASHINGTON (10 December) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), today released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 7321, the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act:
"The American auto industry is an important part of our country's manufacturing base and assuring its viability in the global economy is something that should be a priority. However, as with the financial bailout, I believe that the taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize private companies that are unable to demonstrate long term viability.
WASHINGTON (10 December) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, today joined with Republican colleagues in sending a letter today to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to request that CEOs from institutions receiving taxpayer funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) be called to testify before Congress and answer questions about their use of TARP funds.
WASHINGTON (21 November) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, today co-sponsored H.R. 7276 legislation that would amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to require prior Congressional approval for future expenditures.
WASHINGTON (10 October) – The Center for Security Policy, one of the
nation’s leading national security policy organizations, today named
U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-9) a “Champion of National Defense”. The
designation came as CSP released its National Security Scorecard which
ranks Members of the US Congress based on their support for – or
opposition to – policies that support and sustain US national defense.
WASHINGTON (3 October) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, today released the following statement after the House approved the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act:
WASHINGTON (25 September) – The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business association, today named U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-9) a Guardian of Small Business for his outstanding voting record on behalf of America’s small business owners in the 110th Congress.
WASHINGTON (30 September) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), representing Florida’s 9th Congressional District, yesterday released the following statement after the House rejected the Financial Markets Stabilization Bill by a vote of 205 to 228:
WASHINGTON (25 September) – U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.) joined with his colleagues in supporting two measures designed to improve the lives of veterans and active duty and retired servicemembers.
WASHINGTON (24 September) – On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.) introduced H.R. 7011 to ensure that all eligible combat disabled military retirees are able to collect Combat-Related Special Compensation.
