In The News

Florida Politics — Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy are back with their bipartisan quest for national security briefings on foreign interference campaigns in American elections.   This time the duo from adjacent Central Florida districts are doing so just days before the next election, in which both are favored to win reelection.   This time they’re raising alarm and wanting information after fresh FBI reports that Russia and Iran are both playing... Read more

Florida Politics — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has awarded 16 grants to pay for gun violence research, the first since Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy‘s bill was approved lifting the federal ban on such grants, her office announced Thursday.   The $7.8 million in grants go to researchers in North Carolina, Michigan, California, Alabama, and elsewhere to study such things as firearm behavioral practices and suicide risk in U.S. Army soldiers and veterans, and evaluation of an app... Read more

Florida Politics — The possibility of a Medal of Honor for the late Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe of Oviedo came a step closer Tuesday when the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill making it possible.   By unanimous consent late Tuesday, the House passed House Resolution 8276, introduced by Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Winter Park and cosponsored by Republican Rep. Michael Waltz of St. Augustine Beach and Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas.   HR 8276 would waive... Read more

CNN — The Pentagon is seeking to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to a US Army sergeant who died saving others in Iraq nearly 15 years ago.   US Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe was on patrol on October 17, 2005, in Samarra, Iraq, when a roadside bomb detonated near the Bradley fighting vehicle carrying the Florida native and his fellow soldiers. Cashe, 35, suffered fatal burns while pulling the soldiers from the burning vehicle. He died on November 8 of that year at the Brooke Army Medical... Read more

Washington Post — The Pentagon is poised to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe, who suffered fatal burns while repeatedly entering a burning vehicle in Iraq to save the lives of fellow soldiers.   Cashe’s actions “merit award of the Medal of Honor,” Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said this week in a letter to members of Congress who have taken up his case. That determination means that the award, the nation’s highest for valor in combat, has agreement from... Read more

Florida Politics — Republican Sen. Rick Scott and Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy have been named “Fiscal Heroes in Congress” by The Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan federal budget watchdog group.   Scott was one of eight Republicans plus six Democrats in the U.S. Senate to be selected.   Murphy was one of 15 Democrats plus 12 Republicans and one Libertarian in the U.S. House of Representatives to be selected.   They were the only Florida lawmakers.   “The current public... Read more

Orlando Sentinel — Rep. Stephanie Murphy introduced a bill Thursday requiring Congress to be notified if intelligence agencies believe a foreign government not at war with America is deliberately targeting U.S. service members.   The bill, co-sponsored with U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., comes after reports that Russia had paid bounties to Taliban insurgents to kill or injure American troops in Afghanistan.   The White House initially denied President Donald Trump was informed about the... Read more

Florida Daily — As Republicans ramp up their rhetoric on China and introduce legislation to oppose that communist nation, Democrats are taking notice–and a congresswoman from Central Florida is pushing the U.S. House majority to do more.   U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., has joined several fellow Blue Dog Democrats in backing the “Preventing China From Exploiting COVID-19 Act” which would have the Director of National Intelligence study all of the methods China is using to exploit the pandemic... Read more

Florida Politics — The congressional Democrats’ Blue Dog Coalition led by Winter Park Rep. Stephanie Murphy said Tuesday it intends to push for “swift and systematic change” in response to protesters’ calls for law enforcement reform.   Still, in a Tuesday statement, the Blue Dogs stopped short of endorsing the Justice in Policing Act bill introduced Monday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders, though Murphy is among the cosponsors of the bill.   “We join our colleagues... Read more

Orlando Sentinel — U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy aimed some harsh criticism at Florida’s unemployment system Monday in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, saying “the state has failed Floridians.” Murphy, a Winter Park Democrat, said the state is trying to revamp a system that isn’t working just because it’s overwhelmed by claims but because it was deliberately designed years ago to not pay benefits to people who lost their jobs. “What’s standing between them and resources that could... Read more