Last week, U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., threw his support behind the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill passed by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee since it “requires all unspent money from the Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA) to be used for debt and deficit reduction.”
Webster noted that he has been returning unspent money during his 13 years in Congress.
“I’m pleased to see that House Republicans are on the verge of adopting something I’ve been voluntarily doing since I was elected,” said Webster. “Each year, I have saved money from my Congressional Office Budget and have returned over $4.5 million to date.
“Additionally, every year I deliver a personal check to the Bureau of Fiscal Service at the Treasury Department to roll back my salary to the 2008 amount. Although it is a small step given the trillions of dollars the federal government spends, it is a step in the right direction,” he added.
A longtime leader in the Florida Legislature, including being the first Republican to serve as speaker of the state House since Reconstruction, Webster, now 74, was elected to Congress in 2010 when he defeated U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. Webster challenged Republican U.S. House Speakers John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., but came up short both times.
Since being elected to Congress, Webster has had a few scares. Val Demings offered a surprisingly close challenge to Webster in 2012. Despite the GOP controlling the Florida Legislature, Webster’s district was changed during the redistricting process, and, in 2016, he successfully ran for a more GOP-friendly district.
Webster represents all of Lake and Sumter Counties and parts of Polk and Orange Counties. He is being challenged by former state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, Laura Loomer, who ran against the congressman in 2022, and John McCloy, an energy expert and veteran, in the Republican primary.
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