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On Wednesday, Gus met with Pat Pedraja, 13, in his Washington office to discuss his recent efforts to raise awareness about bone marrow donation.
A young resident of Palm Harbor, Fla., Pedraja was diagnosed with Leukemia in March 2006 and has undergone intensive treatment for the disease. When he found out about the shortage of minority bone marrow donors, he put together "Driving for Donors." This effort took Pat across the United States in 2007, helping him to add 6,000 new donors to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry.
Congressman Bilirakis was honored with an "A in English" Award by U.S. English, Inc. for his dedication to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States, particularly for his votes and co-sponsorships of official English legislation in the 110th Congress. Bilirakis received "A" grades on the U.S. English, Inc. legislative scorecard for the 110th Congress.
CQ Politics reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee has marked up their version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes language similar to legislation (H.R. 5481) introduced by Gus earlier this year authorizing for "a 3.9 percent pay raise for U.S. military personnel, a half percentage point more than President Bush sought in his budget request."
On Saturday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on the success Texas has experienced since deploying its Silver Alert system 7-months-ago...
A new statewide alert system to track down missing elderly Texas residents is 30 out of 30 -- 27 of them in time to save their lives, according to recently released statistics from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
By GUS BILIRAKIS
Every 40 seconds, someone in America has a stroke. In fact, it is the third leading cause of deaths in the nation. Each year, during the month of May, Americans band together, not only to share their support in the fight against stroke, but also raise awareness of how it can be treated, and more importantly, prevented.
By GUS BILIRAKIS
April is National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month. We see the heart-wrenching and troubling stories on the news about victims of sexual assault, but it becomes even more disturbing when we realize that it is even happening in our own community.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Authorization and Lease Act, H.R. 5856, would provide leasing authority to the VA for up to 20 years and authorize nearly $13 million in Fiscal Year 2009 for a new 50,000 square-foot multi-specialty outpatient clinic in the city of Brandon, Fla. and a new 100,000 square-foot primary care offsite facility for the James A. Haley VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Tampa, Fla.
Florida is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on the agency's design and construction standards for community shelters. The state believes that FEMA's 361 standard for shelter construction is too rigorous for the force of winds that hurricane shelters in Florida generally encounter.
The Issue
Yesterday, Congressman Bilirakis introduced The Silver Alert Grant Program Act of 2008 (H.R. 5898). If enacted, this program would provide U.S. states and territories the opportunity to establish ‘Silver Alert' notification systems to locate missing individuals suffering from dementia-related illnesses.
In March, the Tampa Tribune wrote about the need for a 'Silver Alert' in Florida...
The Amendment, which the House adopted by a voice vote, would also set a date certain for the program to be enacted, and would require the Guard to provide a cost analysis for a Coast Guard and DHS-wide deployment of the biometric collection program in the most appropriate manner.