Every Member of Congress who gets elected has a decision to make....do they want to put people first or politics first? When Members decide to make the people they represent their top priority, we can accomplish great things for our country.

For example, funding projects like the Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation and the EAA Southern Storage Reservoir is critical to combating harmful discharges, preventing toxic algal blooms and protecting our communities. That’s why, I joined my fellow members of the Florida delegation this week in requesting a full funding for Everglades Restoration - we’re looking for at a minimum $200 million a year for Everglades restoration that has been used by the Army Corps to fund projects like the C-44 Reservoir in Martin County and Kissimmee River restoration north of the lake.

I’ve also been leading the charge to end the deadly and wasteful taxpayer-funded experiments performed on cats at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and this week, the USDA announced that the use of cats as part of any research has been discontinued and will not be reinstated! Now, the remaining kittens at the USDA will be adopted out to great homes.

These are two examples of the kind progress we can make with this service before self mentality. Unfortunately, it seems like that’s the minority view in Congress most of the time, and this week was another example of that with a couple of very frustrating experiences because House “leadership” decided to put politics before the American people.

Watch our week in review video to hear more about what went down.