curt clawson

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers -- including one of the most liberal and the most conservative in Congress -- pressed Tuesday for a "clean" $1.1 billion spending measure to combat the Zika virus. "This is a big moment in the history of Florida. If I'm being urged to vote to spend big money overseas for bombs, by God I'm going to vote for financial bombs to go after a bad mosquito in order to save babies," said Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, a staunch fiscal conservativ... Read more

Given the widespread response to terms like “politician” and “Congress,” and the raging election successes scored this year by total newcomers to the process, maybe it’s no surprise that everybody wants to be an outsider now. But Southwest Florida’s U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson ran as an outsider before it was cool, and if you think all politicians are easily categorized, you don’t know Curt. His political record after barely two years in office is readily available. A quick Google scan provides highl... Read more

If there's an elected leader serving Southwest Florida who is more concerned than U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson about the $19.1 trillion national debt, we're not sure who that would be. So it might have surprised some Friday when the fiscally conservative Bonita Springs Republican, who took office in 2014, introduced the Everglades Land Acquisition Act. If Congress goes along, the Interior Department would spend $500 million to buy land in the Everglades Agriculture Area in Palm Beach County. The goal ... Read more

Southwest Florida U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson didn't go to the nation's capital to coast. Instead, he's demonstrating he went there to protect our water and natural resources, with the coast among his priorities. Anyone who has settled in Southwest Florida for its enticing coastline and alluring environment — we figure that's just about everyone — should join us in extending kudos to Clawson for all he's done for the region's key attraction in recent days. To recap what Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, ele... Read more

Pointing to international concerns about the spread of the Zika virus, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., has three proposals to help the U.S. ready for it. On Friday, the Southwest Florida congressman brought out three bills all focused on Zika. Clawson’s legislation would offer 10 percent tax credits for research and development expenses of companies looking for a vaccine; keep a grant program funded at $1 billion over a five year period which helps states support mosquito control efforts; and se... Read more

Looking back, what a difference a year makes. Imagine it is February 2015 and record rainfall has covered South Florida to the point that brown water discharges from Lake Okeechobee are fouling the beaches and estuaries on the east and west coasts of Florida. Such discharges are almost routine in the rainy season but this one, at the height of the supposedly dry tourist season, is especially alarming. Lawmakers are getting ready to convene their annual session as environmentalists and others try... Read more

Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, announced to waterway projects that should start in Lee County this year. The Army Corps of Engineers has allocated $900,000 for the dredging of sections of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (often referred to as the Miserable Mile). Another $3 million has been allocated for dredging the entrance channel at Fort Myers Beach. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway annually transports an estimated 155,466 vessels, according a news release from Clawson. The dredging will help w... Read more

WASHINGTON - Urging Congress to provide more resources in the fight against Zika, a top federal health official on Wednesday warned Congress that the virus is likely to spread into tropical areas of the United States such as Puerto Rico and South Florida, where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is common. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden told members of the Foreign Affairs Committee that the number of U.S. Zika cases has risen and cautioned that if the virus takes root... Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson took to the House floor Tuesday evening to introduce a bill to permanently protect 17,044 acres between Naples and Marco Island and further south as part of the federal Coastal Barrier Resources System. It was passed minutes later on a voice vote. The area around Keewaydin Island would get federal protection "in perpetuity," and it reduces further development without affecting private property rights, the Bonita Springs Republican said as he stood in front of ... Read more

WASHINGTON – As President Barack Obama took his final-year agenda to voters Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson labeled the vision outlined in the president's State of the Union speech "happy talk." Clawson, a Bonita Springs Republican, offered the Tea Party's response last year to the president's annual address to a joint session of Congress, but kept a lower profile this year as a "team player" under U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan. Clawson was dismissive of much of the message delivered by Obama, ... Read more