Francis Rooney

In October 2019, Rooney announced that he will not run for re-election to Congress in 2020.

Following the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Rooney announced a proposal to limit mass shootings. The proposal includes supporting the Fix NICS Act of 2017, mandating background checks for every firearm purchase, and enacting a gun violence restraining order system to provide a legal justification for temporarily confiscating firearms from those deemed a threat to themselves or others. Rooney also supports a mandatory 3-day waiting period for all gun sales, a ban on bump stocks, and raising the minimum age to purchase any firearm to 21. Additionally, his proposal included making schools more secure and hiring veterans and retired law enforcement officers as armed security guards for schools. Rooney has also expressed support for the controversial idea of arming teachers to confront school shooters. However, in response to questions on if he would support reinstating the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, Rooney replied, "How willing are we to throw the Constitution out the window?" Rooney has stated that his support of any new gun control legislation is contingent on the inclusion of a rider of the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.

On November 28, 2018, Rooney cointroduced the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018, saying, "to let the free market price out coal, we should consider value pricing carbon. A revenue-neutral carbon fee is an efficient, market-driven incentive to move toward natural gas and away from coal, and to support emerging alternate sources of energy." He also cosponsored the 2019 version of the bill. In an op-ed published on Politico in September 2019, Rooney declared, "I’m a conservative Republican and I believe climate change is real. It’s time for my fellow Republicans in Congress to stop treating this environmental threat as something abstract and political and recognize that it’s already affecting their constituents in their daily lives." However, his voting record has not always been so pro-environment. He has voted to delay enactment of ozone standards, and to repeal a rule requiring energy companies to reduce waste and emissions.

Rooney was sworn in January 3, 2017. He is a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee and the Climate Solutions Caucus.

In 2017, Rooney proposed the Pell Performance Act, alongside Ralph Norman, which proposes that Pell Grants turn into Stafford loans if students fail to graduate college within six years of being awarded the grant.

Rooney wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and calls it "an experiment that didn't work." He voted for the American Health Care Act of 2017.

As of 2017, Rooney has a "B" rating from the NRA, indicating a voting record that generally supports gun rights. As a Congressman, Rooney has voted in favor of several pieces of legislation to expand gun rights, including a yes vote on H. R. 38 (the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act), which would enable concealed carry reciprocity among all States if and when it is signed into law. In March 2017, Rooney voted in favor of the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which, if signed into law, will allow veterans who are considered "mentally incompetent" to purchase ammunition and firearms unless declared a danger by a judge. Rooney also voted in favor of H.J.Res.40, which successfully used the Congressional Review Act to block implementation of an Obama-era Amendment to the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 that was aimed at preventing the mentally-infirm from legally purchasing firearms.

Rooney favors tax reform and voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Although he voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which authorized drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in September 2019 he was the only House Republican who voted in favor of a bill that would repeal this authorization.

Rooney is in favor of immigration reform. He has spoken out against Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. At the time of Rooney's stated position on DACA, a large majority of American citizens were in support of the program, including according to an August 31 through September 3, 2017 poll where 57% of self-identified Republican voters.

Rooney has made statements suggesting that he believes in the existence of a Deep state in the United States. In a December 26, 2017 MSNBC interview, Rooney, while calling into question the integrity of the FBI and Justice department, who are conducting an investigation into Russian State interference in the 2016 elections and any possible collusion between Russia and the Donald Trump presidential campaign along with any related crimes, alluded to a "Deep state", presumably seeking to undermine the Trump presidency. Rooney stated there ought to be a "purge" within those departments. Rooney suggested this is evidenced by the fact that there were isolated incidents among members of those agencies who were documented as having been demoted or, where relevant, removed from the Mueller probe for having expressed anti-Trump bias and/or pro-Hillary Clinton bias.

Rooney attracted national attention in December 2017 when he suggested that the FBI be purged of agents that he believed were "politically compromised", and saying he felt "pretty frustrated" with FBI officials in their investigation of Trump; and by doing so, Rooney is putting himself squarely in the corner of Donald Trump, according to several sources.

In May 2016, incumbent Republican congressman Curt Clawson announced he would not run for a third full term. Soon afterward, Rooney entered the Republican primary to succeed him—the real contest in this heavily Republican district. Rooney spent $4 million of his own money and far outspent his opponents in an election that was shortened due to the timing of Clawson's late announcement. In the August 30 primary, he defeated Sanibel Councilman Chauncey Goss and radio personality Dan Bongino. Rooney received an unprecedented endorsement from Rick Scott, who is his neighbor in the Naples, Florida Port Royal community. As expected, he won handily in the November general election to become only the fifth person to represent this district since its creation in 1983 (it had been the 13th District from 1983 to 1993, the 14th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013).

Rooney is a major Republican donor, having contributed to the campaign of George W. Bush. Rooney served on the fundraising team of Connie Mack IV. Rooney donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, Mitt Romney's Super PAC, and Rooney hosted a fundraiser for Romney in Rooney's Naples, Florida home. In 2015, Rooney gave over $2 million to Jeb Bush's Super PAC.

Rooney sat on the board of the Tulsa, Oklahoma based petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company, Laredo Petroleum that was accused in 2012 of underpaying royalties to landowners of property where the company was conducting operations. The lawsuit, filed by Chieftain Royalty Company, alleged that "Laredo used its position as operator and as an oil and gas working interest owner to secretly underpay royalty due plaintiff and class members on production of gas and its constituents from the Oklahoma Well," and the company had been "unjustly enriched." Rooney owns 1 million shares of Laredo Petroleum and had been on the board since 2010. Despite denying the allegations made in the lawsuit, Laredo settled the claim for $6.6 million.

Rooney holds honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame (2006) and the University of Dallas (2010).

Rooney served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Rooney Holdings, Inc. since 1984. Rooney is the majority owner of Manhattan Construction Company; he is the fourth generation of his family to own that company. Manhattan Construction built the new Cowboys Stadium in Texas, the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center at the United States Capitol, the Oklahoma State Capitol, the George Bush Presidential Library, the Cato Institute headquarters, New Orleans Sports Arena and Reliant Stadium. The company is working on the George W. Bush Presidential Library earning it the distinction to be the only construction company to work on two presidential libraries. They have also done extensive projects for Morehouse College, George Washington University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Georgia.

He is a graduate of the Georgetown Preparatory School, Georgetown University (A.B. 1975) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. 1978). Rooney is the oldest of Laurence Francis and Lucy Turner Rooney's six children. His younger siblings are Patrick T. Rooney, Timothy P. Rooney, Lucy Rooney Kapples, James H. Rooney, and Rebecca Rooney. He is not related to former Florida Republican Representative Tom Rooney.

Laurence Francis Rooney III (born December 4, 1953) is an American politician and diplomat who is the U.S. Representative for Florida's 19th congressional district . A Republican, he served as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 until 2008. Representative Rooney has earned a 95.90% Lifetime Score from the American Conservative Union.