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Profile in Courage – Rep. Brian Mast
Few Americans elected to higher office maintain the integrity to stand up for what they believe in. Interest groups pay a pretty penny to politicians willing to cave or embrace a profitable status quo. It takes real courage to go against the grain. Even fewer Americans elected to Congress can claim top military awards—such as the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart—for displaying selflessness in serving their country. Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) is a rare breed of politician that does right by his constituents and countrymen and expects nothing in return. For being an example of exemplary conduct and courage, Rep. Mast is most certainly a Profile in Courage. Mast was imbued with an obligation for service his entire life. After high school, the young man enlisted in the U.S. Army, a short while before the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For much of the next decade, the future member of Congress served in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. All it took was one day for Mast’s life to change forever. The lawmaker recounts, “A bomb flipped my life upside down. … I was moving through the Kandahar Valley with a small team of Army Rangers. As a bomb technician under the Joint Special Operations Command, my mission was to clear the path for the team to capture or kill high-value targets. … I was sent flying through the air by a force so strong that the wind was knocked out of me. Everything was numb. I could taste the dirt in my mouth and hear the shouts of ‘EOD is hit, EOD is down!’ through my earpiece.” While recovering in bed, his father gave him simple advice that had a profound impact on Mast’s path. Mast remembers, “he told me that I could not let my best days of service be behind me. His tough love was exactly what I needed. … Now, instead of remembering today as the day of my last mission or the day I lost my two legs and a finger, I remember September 19th as my ‘Alive Day.’” Mast also realized that, while his time in the military was coming to an end, national service need not end as a civilian. Throwing his hat into the ring for Florida’s 18th Congressional District—a battleground district in 2016—Mast handily defeated Democrat Randy Perkins and was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives in January 2017.
During his time in office, Rep. Mast certainly has not been afraid to rock the boat. Being an elected official from Florida typically means supporting the U.S. sugar program, a New Deal era scheme that showers billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies onto the obscenely wealthy domestic sugar industry. As American Enterprise Institute scholar Vincent Smith notes, the program’s “strict restrictions on the supply of sugar through domestic production quotas and draconically enforced import quotas has effectively almost doubled prices paid by households and food processors for the sugar they use and consume.” Rep. Mast is having none of it, stating, “It’s past time for this corporate welfare to end. Congress needs … to repeal the sugar program and end these subsidies once and for all.” It’s virtually unheard of for a Florida lawmaker to point out that sugar “subsidies – paid for by the taxpayers – are not helping out small family farms. Only 13 sugar processors in the entire country benefit from this program and they earn millions of dollars each year.” Yet he continues to fight against this outdated program and for taxpayers and consumers. Rep. Mast has also been a leading voice on the issue of cannabis reform. As a leader in the bipartisan Congressional Cannabis Caucus, he has prominently backed the decision to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. And now that President Trump has signaled support for this commonsense push away from criminalization, Rep. Mast’s advocacy will likely come to fruition. He’s also laudably pushed for veteran access to medical marijuana, which could help ease the many pains that come from military service.
The Florida lawmaker knows that his positions don’t always match his party’s orthodoxy. Nonetheless, he presses on to serve his constituents and protect taxpayers and consumers from an overzealous government. For protecting Americans in and out of uniform, Rep. Mast is most definitely a Profile in Courage.
BLOGS:
Monday: Fluoride Facts: Benefits, Risks, and Myths About Dental Health
Tuesday: Turning Insights Into Action to Reduce Drug Prices
Wednesday: Profile in Courage: Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.)
Thursday: Three Ways to Reform Medicaid, Federal Bill of the Month – August 2025: H.R. 5014 – Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans Act, and State Bill of the Month – August 2025: Ohio H.B. 409
Friday: Tariffs Threaten to Upend Americans' Access to Medicine and Summer Reading: Agency Overreach
MEDIA:
August 21, 2025: The Daily Caller mentioned TPA in their story, “Tort Reform Gets Another Bite At The Reconciliation Apple.”
August 25, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me for their story on Gov. West Moore’s spending.
August 27, 2025: The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Md.) mentioned TPA in their story, “No answer yet on how much Md. spends on nonprofits”
August 27, 2025: The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Md.) mentioned TPA in their story, “Baltimore youth fund says it has no documentation of money sent to mayor's office”
August 27, 2025: The Bristol Press (Elbert, Col.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Banning online sales of nicotine pouches a disaster for rural USA.”
August 27, 2025: The Herald (New Britain, Conn.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Banning online sales of nicotine pouches a disaster for rural USA.”
August 28, 2025: I appeared on 55KRC (Cincinnati, Ohio) to talk about congressional earmarks.
August 28, 2025: I appeared on WBOB 600AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) interviewed me for their news segment on tariffs and smaller government.
August 28, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me for their news segment on Gov. West Moore’s excessive expenditures on a trip to Asia.
August 29, 2025: Inside Sources ran TPA's op-ed, "The WHO’s Sin Tax Crusade, A Money Grab Aimed at Consumers."
August 29, 2025: The Daily Pouch ran TPA's op-ed, "The Prohibitionist Delusion – Vaping Is for Enjoying Nicotine, Not Just Quitting."
Have a great weekend!
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, D.C.
Office: (202) 930-1716
Mobile: (202) 258-6527
www.protectingtaxpayers.org
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