Florida's longest serving congressman, Republican Rep. Bill Young, died today at the age of 82 at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, according to the Associated Press. Fox News had incorrectly reported that Young died yesterday, when in fact, his family said, he was just "gravely ill."

Young, who had served in Washington, D.C., for 43 years, was a big advocate for defense spending as a long-serving member of the House Appropriations Committee. That reputation resulted in headlines when, last year, the congressman said the United States should remove its troops from Afghanistan. "[W]e're killing kids who don't need to die," he told the AP.

Prior to his passing, Young had been in the hospital for two weeks due to back problems sustained in a plane accident in 1970.

[Image via AP]