Gus Bilirakis

The Situation: The Supreme Court is currently considering the first major challenge to abortion since Roe vs. Wade. There have been significant advancements in technology and scientific understanding of human development since Roe v. Wade was enacted. For instance, we now know that a baby can feel pain at 15 weeks. Federal laws need to be modernized to align with science.

Bilirakis Action: Gus Bilirakis is unapologetically pro-life. He and his colleagues have sounded the trumpets whenever the left attempts to attack a pro-life protection, including the Hyde Amendment. Bilirakis has voted against any proposals that do not contain these protections. He will not support tax-payer funded abortion or approve of Planned Parenthood receiving tax dollars.

Situation: Through its unconstitutional vaccine and mask mandates, the Biden Administration has violated the rights of millions of Americans. These mandates have also exacerbated the workplace shortages we are seeing throughout critical industries, including healthcare, child welfare, transportation, and education. Decisions about one’s healthcare are one of the most basic freedoms, and they must be protected from this irresponsible and unacceptable government intrusion. Fortunately, the Court has invalidated most of these mandates; however, Congressman Bilirakis will not stop fighting for all Americans’ medical freedom until every mandate is lifted.

Bilirakis co-authored the Stopping Mandates And Limiting Large Government Overreach by Valuing Truth (SMALL GOVT) Act with Rep. Cammack to protect medical freedom and prohibit any organization who discriminates on the basis of vaccination status from receiving any federal dollars.

Bilirakis co-sponsored the Health Freedom for All Act (HR 5471) which would prevent Biden vaccine mandates from being implemented.

Bilirakis successfully championed a provision in the National Defense Appropriation Act that requires the DOD to establish uniform procedures under which members of the military can be exempted from the COVID vaccine mandate. He and a group of his colleagues urged the DOD to suspend dismissals for non-compliance until the exemption was in place.

Bilirakis has voted to ensure that no personally-identifiable information regarding vaccination status is stored in state-run databases or shared with the federal government.

Bilirakis has written to the Administration in opposition to the extension of federal mask mandates.

The Situation: The Biden Administration proposed hiring 90,000 new IRS agents to spy on the bank records of any American who spends an average of $30.00 per day. This is another egregious power grab from the Biden Administration to collect data on millions of Americans and would also pose a tremendous burden on financial institutions.

Bilirakis Action: In addition to speaking against this proposal on the House Floor, writing letters of objection to the Administration with his colleagues, and discussing this matter on local and national news, Bilirakis voted against the budget package that contained this provision.

Inflation is at its highest level in more than 40 years and is estimated to cost each American household an extra $5,200 on basic goods and services in 2022. Reckless government spending fuels inflation. There is a direct correlation between the jump in inflation and passage of the highly partisan COVID package, the American Rescue Plan, in March of 2021. Democrats continued on their spending spree, with passage of a massive infrastructure bill that funded very little traditional infrastructure projects and two huge spending packages that funded radical, liberal policies.

While this record high inflation is ravaging the economy, Democrats’ only solution is to spend more money and to try to deflect blame. President Biden has tried blaming COVID and the Russian War, but the truth is that inflation has risen each month he has been in office. Also, there is a recent analysis showing that the US has been impacted more severely by inflation than other countries. The American people are not buying these excuses and will hold the President and Democrats responsible for the crisis they have created.

Voted against the American Rescue Plan

Voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure package

Voted against both FY Appropriations Packages

Spoken on House Floor, local and national news programs and authored editorials urging his colleagues to rein in spending

Co-sponsored a Balanced Budget Amendment requirement that would force Congress to live within its means

 The Problem: In 2020, when fuel prices were at record lows, the United States was a net exporter of energy. During his presidential campaign, Biden promised to wage war on domestic energy production and to embrace radical green energy policies. He has kept that promise by repealing the Keystone pipeline, pausing domestic oil and gas leases, and creating regulatory barriers that prevent investment in domestic energy production. As a result of these liberal policies, gas prices began to rise. Russia’s war in Ukraine only exacerbated the existing energy crisis, with gas prices reaching an all-time high under one-party rule in Washington. Prices have increased 81% since President Biden took office, with experts predicting that each American household will spend an average of $2,000 more dollars on gas this year. The high price of gas hurts Americans who can least afford it, seniors and those living on a fixed income.

The solution to this problem lies beneath our feet, however, instead of flipping the switch and jump starting domestic energy production, President Biden has proposed dumping more money into green alternatives and buying oil from unstable regimes around the globe. The greatest nation on the face of the earth should never have to rely on Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran, Russia or any other hostile nation to meet its energy needs. We can unleash American energy, create American jobs, and lower prices at the pump by implementing the pro-growth, common sense policies of the previous administration. President Biden has also engaged in a dangerous political stunt to release oil from our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The SPR is projected to drop to its lowest level in almost 40 years. This short-sighted attempt to cover up failed Democrat policies is nothing more than a political stunt that makes our country less secure.

In addition to speaking on the House Floor, on national and local news outlets, and publishing editorials on this topic, Gus Bilirakis has co-sponsored the American Energy Independence from Russia Act. The bill would unleash American energy independence by reversing the negative energy policies President Biden has made. He has also co-authored three bills to help support the development of energy technologies that show promise for meeting the nation’s long-term needs, including: The Hydrogen for Trucks Act, the Hydrogen for Ports Act and the Small-Scale LNG Access Act.

We all care about our environment; however, Gus Bilirakis understands that achieving arbitrary goals at the expense of American consumers and businesses is the wrong approach. He understands that the biggest polluters in the world, China and India, continue to worsen the problem. And, he rejects the false narrative put forth by radical Democrats who favor spending an obscene amount of taxpayer dollars to prop up their preferred green energy sectors without concern for the impact their actions have on the economy.

Gus Bilirakis embraces an “all of the above” energy strategy and fully supports the development of cleaner sources of fuel. However, he understands that America cannot realistically transition to these emerging technologies overnight. He believes we must protect consumers as we embrace long-term strategies that allow America to continue as the world’s leader in carbon emission reduction while keeping energy costs low.

The Situation: President Biden is using recent incidents of violence to justify once again pursuing failed gun control policies. One new proposal targets so-called “ghost guns,” or homemade weapons. Statistics show they were used in just .36% of homicides between 2016 and 2020. There is simply no evidence that encroaching on the rights of law-abiding citizens would have any corresponding decrease in violent crime.

Bilirakis Actions: Bilirakis has a long record of fighting for Americans’ 2nd Amendment Rights. He has spoken out on this latest intrusion and against other radical efforts to enact gun control. He has also been vocal about his opposition to the appointment of a pro-gun control ATF Director. He will always fight against any further erosion of 2nd Amendment rights.

Since President Biden was sworn into office more than 2.2 million people have illegally entered our country. This is the greatest influx of illegal migrants in American history. The true numbers of those entering our country illegally is much higher. Border officials estimate that another 2,000 people per day avoid interaction with border patrol and successfully enter the country.

42 of the people apprehended trying to enter the country since President Biden was sworn in were on the terrorist watch list. How many more terrorists have crossed into our country but evaded detection?

Back in 2012, President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security said that 1,000 encounters at the border would constitute a crisis and overwhelm the system. Today, the number of daily encounters is between 7-9,000. This March, there were 221,303 illegal encounters at the border. That is a 542% increase since March of 2020. Border security is underfunded and overwhelmed.

There has also been a huge spike in drug and human trafficking along the southern border since Biden took office. In 2021, 11,201 pounds of fentanyl were seized- a 134% increase from 2020 and enough to kill every American nearly 7x over. More than 100,000 Americans are dying annually from fentanyl overdose and the problem is directly linked to the Border Crisis.

These staggering statistics are not a fluke, but rather the result of deliberate policies that have encouraged migrants to break our laws and enter the country. During his State of the Union, President Biden said, “We need to secure the border and fix the immigration system. It is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do,” However, his words have not matched his actions. He sued in court to be able to abandon many of the Trump-era policies that were containing the situation, including the repeal of the Remain in Mexico Policy.

Instead of addressing what has become a humanitarian, health and national security problem, the Biden Administration keeps announcing plans that will exacerbate the problem. For example, the Administration has discussed paying illegal immigrants settlement payments of up to $450,000. Democrats’ budget proposals did not contain one dollar to add additional Border Security Agents, however, it contained amnesty for up to 10 million illegal immigrants and $100 billion in taxpayer funded benefits. These individuals broke the law by entering the country. If they are compensated for doing so, it will encourage even more people to break the law.

At the same time that we are seeing these historic increases in the number of illegal migrants entering our country, deportations have dropped by 68%, the lowest level in 26 years, before ICE was created. Flights and busloads of illegal migrants are being shipped throughout the country without proper monitoring or follow-up to ensure these people appear at their hearings.

As bad as the current situation is, it is only going to get worse. President Biden recently announced that on May 23rd, he will repeal another effective, Trump-era strategy that has been used to help deter illegal crossings, Title 42. It protects our country by allowing officials to turn away illegal immigrants at the border. Officials estimate this will cause the number of daily illegal encounters to swell to 18,000.

Gus Bilirakis understands that the Biden Border Crisis has made every city and state a border city- because the impacts are being felt everywhere. Unlike, our Border Czar Kamala Harris, Gus Bilirakis has been to the border to see the situation for himself. He has spoken with border patrol agents, local leaders, residents and business owners. He is a co-sponsor of the PAUSE Act, which would stop President Biden from eliminating or weakening Title 42. He has also cosponsored the Early Migration Alert Program which would require the federal to notify local law enforcement and officials before migrants were released into their communities. This is the least we owe our citizens. And, Gus Bilirakis has supported funding for the creation/expansion of a Border Wall through multiple budget cycles. He and his colleagues have written to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the President condemning these actions and urging them to secure the border. He has spoken on the House Floor on several occasions, written multiple editorials and testified in hearings about the urgency of this crisis.

The problem: Democrats’ failed social justice experiment of defunding police, letting criminals go unpunished, and engaging in anti-law enforcement rhetoric has yielded deadly consequences for Americans. There has been a dramatic spike in crime throughout the nation, with more than a dozen cities setting new homicide records in 2021. Shootings of police officers have increased by 63% compared to 2020, and tragically more police officers have been killed in the line of duty in 2021 than in any year since 1995. This is what happens when you portray the brave men and women who risk their lives to keep our communities safe as the villain. Despite radical Democrats’ calls to defund police, a new national poll shows that 69% of Americans believe increasing funding for the police will decrease crime. Instead of owning how their behavior has fueled this crime crisis and emboldened criminals, Democrats’ have predictably called for more control policies. Gus Bilirakis understands that we will never make our country safer by infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families. He has and will always be a vocal defender of the 2nd Amendment.

Gus Bilirakis also agrees with the majority of Americans that will decrease crime by supporting law enforcement. His pro-law enforcement record backs up those beliefs. He has a long history of supporting record increases for law enforcement programs, pushing social media companies to work with law enforcement to better protect children, and improving emergency communication systems. He has worked with federal, state and local law enforcement on a variety of critical issues including: securing the border, strengthening cybersecurity protections, stopping human trafficking, tackling addiction and mental health reform, and supporting programs to help victims of crime. Gus Bilirakis has partnered with the law enforcement community to deliver educational programs to help seniors and vulnerable populations from becoming a victim. He also helped Pasco County obtain a special designation for fighting drug trafficking. And, he sponsored legislation to increase school resource officers and empower law enforcement. Gus has championed initiatives to recognize first responders and ensure they have access to the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. Gus Bilirakis is proud to have the endorsement of Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco and Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis. He has always and will always back the Blue.

The Problem: Under Presidents Obama and Biden, Democrats have gutted funding for the United States Military. At a time when the world is seeing unprecedented aggression from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, this lack of support for our national defense and those who bravely serve in our Armed Forces is simply unacceptable. Additionally, our nation’s heroes face bureaucratic roadblocks when trying to access the medical care, benefits, and supportive services they were promised, which is also unconscionable.

Gus Bilirakis has a well-deserved reputation for being a champion of our nation’s heroes. He has spent his tenure in Washington fighting to ensure Veterans receive the care and benefits they deserve. While there is still important work to be done, Bilirakis has achieved meaningful results.

For several years as Vice-Chairman of the House VA Committee, he was instrumental in crafting legislation that overhauled the VA’s delivery of healthcare, modernized the benefits claims’ process, enhanced GI benefits, and improved its prevention services for suicide and homelessness.

The rates of Veteran homelessness throughout the nation and here in the Tampa Bay area have plummeted.

The transformation of homeless prevention services mirrors the homeless prevention model and is currently being implemented.

In recognition that one size does not fit all when it comes to Veterans’ mental health, Bilirakis authored legislation signed into law that required the VA to begin implementing complementary and alternative treatments, such as service animal therapy. This has been a huge step forward in helping many Veterans.

Bilirakis also secured funding for local Veterans which culminated in the new VA Outpatient Clinic in New Port Richey scheduled to open in fall of 2022, the new Zephyrhills Outpatient Clinic scheduled for later in 2022, the new Countryside Outpatient clinic, and the new Bed Tower at James A. Haley Hospital in Tampa.

He has consistently supported increases in pay for active duty, restored funding for defense spending, and modernization of military readiness to meet emerging challenges

Fix concurrent receipt

Expand Veteran dental care

Ensure those exposed to burn pit toxins receive care and benefits without fighting their government

Improve the quality of base housing for military families