{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rubio.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=4AC9FD68-EFAE-4400-80C1-B602B78F5939", "Rubio Highlights 2017 Accomplishments", "2017-12-22", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Marco Rubio", "R000595", "www.rubio.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C.  The Office of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio today released the following summary of his 2017 accomplishments serving the people of Florida, including eight bills signed into law by President Trump in the past year alone:\r\nTax Relief for Working Class Families\r\nSince 2014, Rubio has pushed for an enhanced child tax credit to help working, middle-class American families. Standing up to his own partys leadership during tax reform, Rubio won provisions in the tax bill that doubled the per-child tax credit to $2,000 and increased the amount working class families can receive to $1,400, indexed to inflation until the full credit applies.\r\n\r\n  \r\nShaping U.S. Policy Toward Cuba\r\nRubio worked closely with President Trump and his Administration to develop a new U.S. policy toward Cuba that rolls back the Obama Administrations one-sided concessions to the Castro regime, and instead works to economically and politically empower private Cuban citizens and entrepreneurs.\r\n\r\n  \r\nLeading the Charge to Impose Sanctions on Corrupt Venezuelan Officials\r\nRubio has been at the forefront of the fight for human rights and democracy in Venezuela, and has worked closely with the Administration to impose and enforce sanctions against Nicolas Maduros dictatorial regime.\r\n  \r\nLeading the Charge for VA Reform\r\nAfter years of negligence at VA facilities came to light, Rubio pushed for reform at the department and put our veterans first by allowing the secretary to dismiss bad employees, and ensuring appropriate due process protections for whistleblowers. In June, Rubios Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act was signed into law by President Trump.\r\n  \r\nFighting to Improve Treatment for Kids with Cancer\r\nPediatric cancer is a leading cause of death by disease among children, but children do not have the same number of treatment options as adults. In August, Rubios RACE for Children Act was signed into law, which provides children battling cancer with more innovative and promising treatment options.\r\n  \r\nPromoting Human Rights and Democracy Around the World\r\nFrom Venezuela to Cuba to Egypt to China, Rubio has led the charge in championing human rights across the globe. He brought Lilian Tintori to the White House, prompting a tweet from the president and putting a spotlight on human rights abuses in Venezuela.\r\n  \r\nConstituent Services\r\nOver the past year, Rubio and his office have assisted in over 7,500 federal constituent cases to help Floridians in their communities.\r\n\r\n\r\nHurricane Irma Relief Efforts\r\nAfter failures at a Florida nursing home led to the deaths of patients, Rubio secured investigations into nursing home providers and coordinated with CMS and Lincare in order to supply oxygen to over 250,000 Floridians. His staff opened Recovery Assistance Centers across the state, assisting over 10,000 Floridians.\r\n\r\nHurricane Maria Relief Efforts\r\nImmediately after the hurricane, Rubio visited Puerto Rico to survey the destruction and receive a briefing on recovery efforts at the emergency operations center in San Juan. He deployed staff to Puerto Rico to assist officials with recovery efforts. Rubios office also facilitated the evacuation of a number of critically ill or endangered Puerto Rican citizens and helped to ensure they received vital or life-saving medical care upon their arrival in Florida.\r\n\r\n  \r\nProtecting Medicare Beneficiaries\r\nFollowing Rubios urging, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) prevented implementation of President Obamas Medicare home health pre-claim review demonstration, which would have harmed Floridas seniors.\r\n  \r\nFighting for Puerto Ricos Medicaid Program\r\nRubio helped secure almost $300 million for Puerto Ricos Medicaid program and was thanked by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzlez for his leadership.\r\n  \r\nAdvocating for Tampa General Hospital\r\nAfter Rubios intervention, Tampa General Hospital (TGH) recovered $2 million in federal funding that was inappropriately withheld withheld by Medicare.\r\n\r\nImproving Basic Education for Children in Developing Countries\r\nIn September, the president signed Rubios READ Act into law that provides accountability for existing U.S. programs to improve basic education in developing countries.\r\n  \r\nStanding With Our Ally Israel\r\nIn April 2017, Rubio led all 100 U.S. Senators in a letter urging U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres to counter anti-Israel bias at the United Nations. Rubio previously introduced a bill that would relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He commended the presidents recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital.\r\n\r\nCountering Iran-Backed Hizballah Terrorists\r\nRecognizing the threats Hizballah poses to America, Rubio has consistently led the fight against the terrorist organization. The Senate passed Rubios anti-Hizballah sanctions bill in October.\r\n  \r\nProtecting Religious Minorities in Iraq Targeted with Genocide by ISIS\r\nIn October, Rubio chaired a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing focused on the plight of Iraqs minority communities and deficiencies in the current assistance structure. After Rubios efforts to highlight these human rights challenges, the Trump Administration began working to ensure Christians, Yezidis and other religious minorities in Iraq targeted by ISIS with genocide are able to access U.S. humanitarian assistance and begin to rebuild their lives.\r\n  \r\nImproving Hurricane Forecasting\r\nRubiosHurricane Forecast Improvement Act was signed into law in April, which codifies NOAAs Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project and aims to reduce the loss of life, injury, and damage to the economy by reducing errors of tracking and intensity forecasts.\r\n  \r\nSupporting Floridas role as a Leader in U.S. Space Program\r\nRubio pushed for the NASA Transition Authorization Act, which was signed into law in March and supports NASAs SLS and Orion programs, benefiting thousands of workers across Florida, at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.\r\n  \r\nAdvocating for Florida Fishermen\r\nFollowing Rubiosadvocacy efforts, NOAA approved theopeningof recreational red snapper fishing in federal waters in the South Atlantic this past fall. In the past seven years, recreational anglers have only had access to the fishery for a combined 17 days. Under this opening, commercial fishermen were also granted the opportunity to harvest red snapper in federal waters along Floridas east coast for the first time since 2014.\r\n  \r\n2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)\r\nIn December, the president signed the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law, which includes two Rubio amendments. The first would provide Congress with the information it needs to ensure our national security assets and capabilities are fully repaired in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The second would require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report detailing training infrastructure for cyber forces, which would particularly benefit Naval Air Station Pensacola Corry Station.\r\n  \r\nCombating Human Trafficking Domestically and Abroad\r\nHuman trafficking occurs in almost every corner of the globe, including in Rubios own backyard of Florida. In September, Rubio joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which includes Rubio-Menendez legislation, the Trafficking in Persons Report Integrity Act (TIPRIA). Rubio continues to lead efforts to combathuman trafficking both domestically and abroad.Two bills that Rubio co-sponsored, the No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act and the Combatting Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act,await the presidents signature to become law.\r\n  \r\nImproving Federal Housing\r\nIn May, a main component of Rubios bill, the HUD Inspection Process and Enforcement Report Act, was signed into law. It reforms federal housing inspections processes and brings needed accountability to ensure slumlords do not take advantage of tenants like at Jacksonvilles Eureka Garden.\r\n  \r\nFighting for Floridas Military\r\nIn his first year on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, Rubio secured nearly $300 million for military construction projects in Florida.  \r\nBringing Two New Unmanned Aircraft Systems to Florida\r\nIn June 2016, Rubio urged then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to locate the Triton UAS in Florida. This February, the U.S. Navy announced that the East Coast Forward Operating Base of the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System (Triton UAS) will be Naval Station Mayport in Northeast Florida.\r\nFollowing Rubios urging, the U.S. Air Force named Tyndall Air Force Base in Northwest Florida the new MQ-9 Wing Base Y of the MQ-9 Reaper UAS in November.\r\n  \r\nImproving Bankruptcy Court System\r\nIn October, the president signed the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act into law, introduced by Rubio earlier this year, which will ensure more manageable caseloads and a more efficient bankruptcy court system, so Floridians can get more timely access to the courts.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rubio.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=4AC9FD68-EFAE-4400-80C1-B602B78F5939"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8989330381155014, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}