Congress is shut down this week, so I thought I’d give you a quick update on the major things I’m working on back in Florida.

First, on Monday morning, I ventured down to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. I met Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa) there and we boarded a plane to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. Rep. Castor and I have been working together for some time now on trying to make sure that MacDill will be the future home for a new generation of air-refueling tankers. This week, that meant visiting senior military leaders and pressing our case for Florida.

As you may know, MacDill AFB has played a key role in supporting the military’s mobility and readiness across the globe – in no small part because of the refueling fleet. As the older planes are phased out, Congresswoman Castor and I are working hard to ensure that the new planes end up calling Florida home. A lot of jobs are on the line in Florida, and although most of the direct jobs are closer to the base than where we are in the 5^th District, the knock-on effects for our community are very real. The healthier Florida is as a state, the healthier our part of that state will be.

When it comes to things like this, it’s good to see a genuine bipartisan effort to get the results. We’ve got enough to disagree about. In my view, there’s no reason the parties can’t work closely together on the things we do agree on. At the end of the day, the American people want and deserve results, and often, that’s what it takes.

On a similar note, I also had the opportunity to join some colleagues last week who serve on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee for a field hearing in Orlando. The hearing focused on the severe delays that have occurred and are occurring at the Orlando VA Medical Center.

If you’re a veteran, you probably know this already, but the VA periodically does a population assessment to determine whether the needs of the veteran population in a given area are being met. Obviously, the veteran population, which was already very large in Central Florida has grown substantially. In 2004, the VA rightly came to the conclusion that we would need additional capacity in the region so they set about building a new facility in Orlando.

Groundbreaking finally happened four years later in October, 2008. The original target date for completion was set for October of this year.

To make a very long story very short, it’s not going to be complete in October. In fact, as of July, the VA was saying that the buildings are only about 60 percent complete. The plans keep changing.   The designs keep changing. The equipment keeps changing. And in the meantime, the VA is blaming the contractor. The contractor is blaming the VA. And worst of all, the underserved veteran population identified back in 2004 continues to wait.

I was very grateful to be included by my colleagues in the hearing. I don’t sit on the Veterans Affairs Committee, but they know my district and my personal interest in the issue. It’s really just an astounding example of how bad the federal government is at getting results. This kind of thing just isn’t tolerated back in the real world. But that’s where we are. The Committee is going to keep pressing for answers, and more importantly for action. I’m going to back them up in every way I can. In my opinion, if you say you’re going to build a facility by a date certain, that facility needs to get built – on time, as promised. It’s a matter of integrity, and it doesn’t matter whether its institutional integrity or individual integrity. When it comes to giving your word to veterans, I don’t think there is any difference between the two.

All in all, it’s been a good couple of weeks. As frustrating as it is in Washington, it’s really nice to be able to go back home and get some results.   As always, if you have anything on your mind, please call the office or send me and email letting me know what’s going on. It really helps. I mean it.