Mica doesn't tend to decline money for his own district, though, even while criticizing overall government spending. Though he voted against the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package in February 2009, at home he touted the $8 billion it contained for high-speed rail products around the nation, including a commuter rail project in his district.

He voted against the Wall Street bailout in fall 2008, and nearly a decade earlier was one of only five House Republicans to oppose deregulation of large swaths of the finance sector, which some blame for the 2008-2009 financial meltdown.

Transportation

Mica's main legislative efforts have been in his role on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, especially after he became chair of its Aviation subcommittee in 2001.

Following Sept. 11, Mica helped helped create the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), bringing airport policing under federal control. However, Mica fought to maintain some role for private contractors in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, securing a provision to allow airports to opt out of using TSA screeners within three years of when the bill was signed.

Mica continued to monitor the new set of rules governing safety at airports, and after commissioning a Government Accountability Office report that in 2005 found little improvement, criticized the extensive security measures as a"Soviet-style screening system." In 2002, Mica introduced legislation to allow cargo airline pilots to carry guns in their cockpits, which overcame opposition from the Bush administrationto pass resoundingly. It was included in the Federal Aviation Administration's reauthorization bill signed in 2003 by President Bush.

Also in that bill: $14 billion in airport improvements, as an assist for airlines struggling after the September 11th World Trade Center attacks. Mica has received more money from the aviation industry than any other, coming in at over half a million dollars over the course of his legislative career.

Drugs

With Orlando's substance abuse problem on his mind, Mica is a happy soldier in the war on drugs. Even before he became chair in 1999 of the Oversight Committee's subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, Mica made a habit of speaking on the House floor every Tuesday evening about controlling illegal narcotics, defending eradication programs in South America and zero- tolerance rules in America's inner cities.

He proposed imposing the death penalty for attempting to smuggle Schedule I or Schedule II drugs--including cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, and marijuana--into the country , but is open to other approaches. In 1999, he held a controversial hearing on the pros and cons of drug legalization that became a flashpoint in the cultural war on drugs.

And in 2000,Mica also secured grants for substance-abuse treatment as an alternative to prison for drug offenders.

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