Scott Franklin

Franklin serves on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee — a direct legislative role over veteran benefits — and has publicly championed support for veterans throughout his congressional career as a former naval aviator. However, Franklin voted against the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 (H.R.3967), the landmark bipartisan bill that expanded VA healthcare eligibility to over 3.5 million toxic-exposed veterans, added 23 burn pit and toxic exposure-related conditions to VA's list of service presumptions, and was signed into law on August 10, 2022. The bill passed the House 342-88 with broad bipartisan support — Franklin was among the 88 who voted no. His opposition to the PACT Act directly contradicts his stated commitment to ensuring veterans receive the care and benefits they earned. He has not publicly explained his no vote. In the 119th Congress, Franklin introduced the SCHEDULES Act of 2026 to improve timely access to veteran care — a positive step, though it has not yet passed committee.

Franklin was selected as Chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology (SST) Environment Subcommittee for the 119th Congress, announced February 4, 2025 — his second term on the committee and first as chair. In this role, he has chaired multiple subcommittee hearings, including a March 2025 hearing on Blue Economy Technologies and a May 20, 2025 hearing on AI innovations in agrichemicals, where he highlighted $4.5 million in federal funding he secured for agricultural AI research at the University of Florida. His stated priorities upon accepting the chairmanship included advancing weather forecasting, ensuring disaster readiness, and pushing back on burdensome environmental regulations.

Franklin introduced H.R.7464, the Temperature Event Mitigation Policy (TEMP) Act, on February 10, 2026, in the 119th Congress, alongside 13 original cosponsors including lead Democratic cosponsor Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24). The bill directs the USDA Risk Management Agency to research and develop an affordable, index-based crop insurance option covering losses from cold exposure and freezes — addressing a gap Franklin identified for Florida specialty crop growers. As of late April 2026, the TEMP Act text was incorporated into the broader Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R.7567), which was moving through House consideration, though that omnibus bill had not yet been enacted into law as of May 28, 2026.

Franklin formally signed the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written commitment to oppose any net increase in marginal income tax rates and any net reduction in tax deductions or credits. His voting record is consistent with this pledge: he earned an 86% rating from FreedomWorks and a 95% rating from the Club for Growth, both organizations that closely track anti-tax voting. No documented instance of Franklin voting for a net tax increase has been identified across the 118th or 119th Congresses.

Franklin signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge committing to cosponsor and vote for a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress. He has followed through on the cosponsorship element: Americans for Term Limits' official 119th Congress cosponsor list confirms Rep. Franklin, Scott [R-FL-18] is listed as a cosponsor of the term limits resolution in the current Congress. The underlying constitutional amendment remains unenacted, as it would require a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers and ratification by three-fourths of states — a threshold that has not been met. Franklin's pledge obligations (cosponsor and vote for the amendment) are satisfied to the extent the resolution has come before him.