As the Florida state legislature heads into a special session next week, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) will hold a press conference tomorrow, Thursday, May 28, 2015, with Broward County health officials and elected leaders to call for a resolution to the current impasse over Medicaid expansion. More than 800,000 Floridians are currently eligible for basic coverage through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, but the decision to grant that access rests with the state legislature. Last w... Read more

Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at helping Americans struggling with the deadliest form of mental illness – eating disorders – get the care and support they need. Named the Anna Westin Act in observance of a 21-year old woman who lost her life to eating disorders, this legislation is designed help those affected with or susceptible to eating disorders by focusing on training, treatment, and truth-in-adverti... Read more

Today, U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Tom Rooney (R-FL) announced the bipartisan introduction of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2015. H.R. 2230 would establish a bipartisan, blue-ribbon National Criminal Justice Commission charged with reviewing the challenges we face at the federal, state, and local levels and issuing recommendations to Congress on strengthening public safety and law enforcement, addressing mass incarceration and fiscal sustainability, and improving fairness ... Read more

Today, U.S. Ted Deutch (FL-21) joined Reps. Eliot Engel (NY-16) and Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) to introduce the Distracted Driving Prevention Act of 2015. This legislation creates new incentives for states to enact tougher, more enforceable, and more effective laws against texting-while-driving and related distracted driving behaviors. The introduction of the Distracted Driving Prevention Act comes on the heels of a debate in the Florida legislature over whether to pass new legislation to reclassif... Read more

Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) joined Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-3) to introduce the Raise the Wage Act. This legislation will raise the minimum wage, currently set at $7.25, to $12.00 an hour by the year 2020. In addition, the Raise the Wage Act indexes the minimum wage to median wage growth beginning in 2021 so that low-income workers continue to share in America's economic success. "Strong economic growth, a soaring stock market, and huge corporate profits have failed to translate int... Read more

Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL) reintroduced the Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2015, legislation to promote research and development into technologies that harness the energy generated by America's oceans. This legislation will support innovative research underway at places like the Southeast Marine Renewable Energy Center, Florida Atlantic University's nationally-renowned marine-energy research institute. Congressman Deutch's legislation, which has also been int... Read more

Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) joined Congressman Scott Garrett (NJ-5) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-12) to introduce the Restoring Main Street Investor Protection and Confidence Act (H.R. 1982). This legislation will protect ordinary investors from the fraudulent and abusive schemes of securities brokers and investor advisers in addition to providing protections from further “clawbacks” to the innocent investors who were devastated by Ponzi schemes. After the hardships of the fin... Read more

Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) introduced the Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act — a measure that strengthens Social Security for generations to come and improves benefits for all Americans by restoring fairness to Social Security contributions. Currently, most Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck they earn to Social Security, while a corporate lawyer earning $400,000 pays an annual rate of just 1.71 percent and a CEO earning $2 ... Read more

Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) issued the following statement after voting in favor of the bipartisan 'doc fix' deal included in H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 392-27: "Today I was pleased to vote for a bipartisan deal to permanently repeal the misguided Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) policy that jeopardizes doctors participating in Medicare, and to permanently extend assistance to low-income seniors struggling to p... Read more

Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) joined Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) to introduce the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act. This legislation will change the federal bankruptcy code so that private student loans can be discharged in the case of bankruptcy. Differing from credit card debt, mortgages, and other forms of unsecured consumer debt, under current law, private student loan debt is not absolved when one files for bankruptcy. With private student loan debt exceeding $150 bil... Read more