Responding to the unfolding revelations that the Internal Revenue Service singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, says it’s time to “tear it down and start over.”

Rooney is co-sponsoring bills that take aim at the IRS and its key role in implementing Obamacare.

“With the power to tax comes the power to destroy, and when the agency with that power becomes corrupt, we have a responsibility to tear it down and start over,” a Rooney statement says. “The IRS has proved that it is both biased and corrupt, and I have completely lost faith in its ability to enforce the tax code honestly, fairly and effectively, and so have my constituents.”

Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, quickly called for an investigation of the IRS while Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, used the IRS scandal to take aim at the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, who’s been tapped by national Dems to try to recruit more female congressional candidates, is sending out fundraising appeals on behalf of Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the South Carolina Democrat poised to take a Republican-leaning House seat in a May 7 special election.

Colbert Busch, the sister of Comedy Central talk persona Stephen Colbert, is running against baggage-laden Republican Mark Sanford. He’s the former Palmetto State governor whose bizarre 2009 disappearance and admission of an extramarital affair continues to reverberate. Sanford’s campaign was rocked recently by his ex-wife’s complaint that he trespassed on her property Feb. 3. Sanford admitted visiting the house to watch the Super Bowl with his son.

A survey released today by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling shows Colbert Busch opening up a 9-point lead.

Says a Frankel fundraising appeal e-mailed today: “We don’t get chances like this often. The first district in South Carolina is bright red and the fact that Colbert Busch is leading speaks volumes to just how little trust the people of South Carolina really have in their former governor.”

Frankel’s e-mail asks recipients to send a contribution to Colbert Bush. It also gives them the opportunity to “split it!” and send money to Frankel’s re-election campaign as well.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West has ruled out running for office in 2014. But through a PAC he formed to support other conservatives, West is raising and spending more money than a typical congressional candidate.

A Federal Election Commission report filed Monday night shows that his PAC, the Allen West Guardian Fund, raised $479,370 during the first quarter of 2013 — most of it in contributions smaller than $200.

West’s PAC also spent $267,887 during the quarter, primarily on direct mail. The PAC began April with $220,169 in cash on hand.

The man who unseated West in November, Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, raised $557,912 in the first quarter and spent $157,524. Including money carried over from 2012, Murphy’s 2014 campaign has $672,013 in cash on hand.

Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, raised $302,061 and spent $97,433 during the quarter and has $332,119 cash on hand.

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, raised $98,623 and spent $103,493 but still has a cash-on-hand balance of $466,395 from previous contributions.

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, raised $37,307, spent $58,653 and has $234,760 in cash on hand.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, snagged more than $300,000 in contributions during the first quarter of 2013, her campaign announced this afternoon.

Frankel total receipts topped $385,000 for the quarter because of a refund credited to her campaign from the 2012 cycle, according to a statement from the Frankel campaign. She begins her 2014 re-election bid in Palm Beach-Broward District 22 with more than $330,000 in cash on hand.

Federal Election Commission reports are due by the end of Monday for the quarter that ended March 31.

In a statement released by her campaign, Frankel said: “I am honored that South Floridians showed such strong support as I begin building resources for the 2014 campaign. I am working tirelessly every day to solve problems in a bipartisan manner. We must get people back to work and reduce our deficit in a fair way that allows us to strengthen our economy, protect Medicare and Social Security and invest in infrastructure, innovation and education.”

Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, stated her opposition to President Barack Obama‘s proposal to use a slightly less-generous inflation calculation for Social Security increases during a teleconference with seniors from her district Wednesday night.

Frankel’s office arranged for automated phone calls to be placed to about 55,000 senior households in her Palm Beach-Broward District 22. About 6,600 people ended up on the hourlong call, Frankel spokeswoman Sarah Rothschild said.

Max Richtman, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, was Frankel’s guest on Wednesday and spent nearly as much time talking to Frankel’s constituents as Frankel did.

Obama’s budget plan, released Wednesday, calls for slowing down future Social Security benefit increases by modifying the formula used to calculate cost-of-living increases. The “chained CPI” formula would save an estimated $130 billion over 10 years.

Frankel and Richtman both spoke against the idea. Some have touted the chained CPI as part of a “grand bargain” with Republicans on deficit issues, but Frankel disagreed.

“I’m for compromise,” Frankel said. “I’m just not for compromise that will hurt our senior citizens.”

Some tweets from the event can be found on Twitter at @gbennettpost.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, will hold a teleconference with seniors from her Palm Beach-Broward district on Wednesday.

It’s Frankel’s first town hall-type meeting since taking office in January.

About 50,000 automated phone calls will be placed to senior households in congressional District 22 inviting recipients to the 4 p.m. conference.

Frankel plans to talk about the federal budget and protecting Medicare and Social Security, her office said. She will also field questions from seniors. The event is expected to last an hour.

Baseball’s true home run king, part-time West Palm Beach resident Hank Aaron, sent out a fundraising appeal for freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, last week, saying Frankel was “facing a big deadline.”

Big deadline?

The 2014 election is 19 months away.

But the money primary is in full swing. Frankel and other candidates were scrambling to scoop up as much campaign cash as possible by Sunday night, the end of the first quarter reporting period for Federal Election Commission filings. Posting a big early contribution number when reports are filed April 15 is important to candidates hoping to establish credibility or scare off potential challengers.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column….

Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, joined a unanimous House Democratic caucus today in voting against House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan‘s budget plan.

But Murphy split with most of his party — including fellow Palm Beach County Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch, Alcee Hastings and Lois Frankel — by also voting against a House Democratic budget plan and against the budget put forward by Senate Democrats.

Murphy was narrowly elected in November in a Palm Beach-Treasure Coast swing district where Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got 51.5 percent. Murphy has called for more bipartisan cooperation and a “grand bargain” between Republicans and Democrats on the budget.

The Senate Democratic budget plan, which includes $1 trillion in new taxes over 10 years, failed on a 261-to-154 House vote on Wednesday. All 154 votes for it came from Democrats — including Deutch, Frankel and Hastings. Murphy was one of 35 Democrats who joined 226 Republicans in opposition.

Later on Wednesday, Murphy was one of only 28 House Democrats to vote against a budget plan by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Van Hollen’s budget includes $1.2 trillion in new taxes and $200 billion in new stimulus spending. Murphy joined 225 Republicans in opposition.

WASHINGTON — Like many members of Congress, freshman Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, decorates her Capitol Hill office with original artwork from back home.

In Frankel’s case, six of the large paintings displayed in her office are her own creation.

Frankel describes the untitled works, rendered in brightly colored acrylic paint, as “abstract faces” that are inspired by doodles she makes while sitting in meetings.

As a freshman, Frankel said she usually has to wait until the end of a hearing to ask questions. While she waits, she often doodles — which she said shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign her mind is wandering.

“I pay attention,” she said. “There is an art to having to sit in meetings and really paying attention.”

In that regard, liberal Democrat Frankel is a soulmate of conservative Republican icon Ronald Reagan, another famous political doodler.

Frankel said she began painting in the 1990s while she was in the state legislature. Asked if she was influenced by a particular painter or style of art, she said, “I don’t know. I didn’t study art. I just feel it. I’ve never been trained.”

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Congress should stay in session through the weekend and for however long it takes to agree to a plan to replace the automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to take effect Friday, a trio of South Florida Democratic freshmen said this afternoon.

U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach; Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter; and Joe Garcia, D-Miami held a conference call to promote their “No Fix, No Break” proposal and to reiterate Democratic demands that the looming cuts be replaced by a mixture of tax hikes and spending reductions.

Republicans say taxes shouldn’t be on the table after Congress approved a 10-year, $600 billion package of tax hikes on upper-income filers in January. GOP leaders say the automatic spending cuts, which are called “sequestration,” should be replaced with other, more targeted cuts.

When the House was out of session last week, Frankel and Murphy attended a Palm Beach County commission meeting in which Commissioner Paulette Burdick scolded leaders of both parties for spending too little time in Washington.

“Get to work,” said Burdick, who said she was conveying a message from her constituents.

Frankel said she disagreed with the House’s decision to adjourn today and return next week.

“We want our folks back home to know that although we consider when we go back to our district we work, it’s not vacation, the fact of the matter is we disagree with the decision to leave here today,” said Frankel, who plans to return to her Palm Beach-Broward district for work-related events while the House is not in session.

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Freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, has been named by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., as one of two leaders of a new Democratic effort to recruit more female candidates.

Frankel and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, will head up the “Women LEAD” campaign, which aims to “recruit more female candidates, protect women’s rights, expand their opportunities and stop the Republican War on Women.”

“The facts are clear: When women vote, Democrats win. Bringing even more Democratic women into the political process is a winning formula for our party,” said DCCC Chairman Israel. He called Frankel and Pingree “trailblazing women.”

Said Frankel: “As Democrats, we are determined to make life better for the women of this country, and we will work hard every day to pass legislation that matters to women. We will fight efforts to turn back the clock on women and families. We’ll build on our successful recruiting efforts and look to expand our ranks of women who can lead this country.”

Freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, will bring the mother of a 7-year-old killed in the Newtown massacre to Tuesday night’s State of the Union as her guest.

Frankel’s office announced that Lynn McDonnell, whose daughter Grace was among the 20 children and six staff killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, will attend President Barack Obama‘s speech as Frankel’s guest. McDonnell’s husband will attend as the guest of U.S. Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif.

Said Frankel: “Like so many Americans I have been inspired and moved by the families who lost loved ones in the Newtown tragedy. When I look into the eyes of Newtown parents like Lynn and Chris McDonnell, I want to be able to tell them that our kids should have the freedom to be safe at school and that our Congress is ready to pass meaningful laws that will help prevent future gun violence tragedies.”

Frankel advocates a variety of gun-control measures, including a ban on high-capacity magazines, background checks for purchasers at gun shows and a ban on semiautomatic guns classified as “assault weapons.”

Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, broke with most of the Democratic caucus today and voted for a largely symbolic Republican measure requiring President Barack Obama to either submit a budget that balances by 2023 or identify a year when a balanced budget will be achieved.

The measure, which the Democrat-controlled Senate is not expected to consider, passed on a 253-167 vote with Murphy and 25 other Democrats joining 227 Republicans in support. One Republican and 166 Democrats were opposed.

The three other members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach and Alcee Hastings of Miramar — all voted no.

Many Democrats derided the measure, with Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., quoted in Roll Call as calling it “a gimmick wrapped in talking points inside a press release.”

Murphy represents a Palm Beach-Treasure Coast district where Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats and Mitt Romney got 51.5 percent of the vote in November. Murphy’s office sent out a press release headlined “Murphy votes with Republicans to demand balanced budget.”

Said Murphy: “Our country is at a tipping point and it is high time that we get serious about addressing our nation’s fiscal issues, which requires a bipartisan, balanced approach. I joined my Republican colleagues today in voting for this bill and demanding that we put a plan in place that leads to a balanced budget. Although I wish the bill had been amending to ensure a balanced approach is taken to reach a balanced budget, this is still an important step in getting our fiscal house in order.”

Before the final vote, Murphy joined Democrats in supporting a failed amendment specifying that efforts to balance the budget “take a balanced, bipartisan approach to deficit reduction that protects the middle class and seniors.”

Three members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and newly elected Reps. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, and Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter — will take ceremonial oaths of office on Monday in West Palm Beach.

Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente will administer the oaths.

The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the West Palm Beach City Commission chambers at City Center at 401 Clematis Street.

Members of Congress officially took office Jan. 3.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, made his first speech on the floor of the House and offered an amendment that was voted down today during the debate over extending the federal government’s debt limit.

The Republican-led House voted 285-to-144 to extend the government’s borrowing authority until mid-May. Republicans retreated, at least temporarily, on demands that spending cuts be tied to any increase in borrowing authority. But the GOP succeeded in including language that says members of Congress won’t get paid if their chamber fails to pass a budget by April 15. The Democrat-controlled Senate hasn’t passed a budget for three years.

Before the final vote, the House rejected a Murphy amendment that would have shielded seniors, veterans and active members of the military from any spending cuts. The Murphy amendment failed 277-to-151 vote. All four members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — Democratic Reps. Murphy, Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach and Alcee Hastings of Miramar — voted for the failed amendment.

On the final vote to raise the debt ceiling, Murphy and Deutch joined 84 other Democrats and 199 Republicans in the majority. Frankel and Hastings were opposed. Hastings told Politico.com the measure is unconstitutional because Congress cannot change its pay until the start of a new session.

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio issued a statement marking the “tragic anniversary” of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision while freshman Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, hailed the landmark ruling in her maiden House floor speech.

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, also issued a statement affirming the ruling that struck down most restrictions on abortion in the U.S.

Read their statements after the jump…

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The two announced candidates for Florida Democratic Party chairman — Hillsborough County Committeeman Alan Clendenin and Leon County Committeewoman Allison Tant — are rolling out big-name endorsements as the Jan. 26 election approaches.

Clendenin and Tant both announced key labor endorsements Tuesday, with Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams announcing his support for Clendenin while the Service Employees International Union declared its backing of Tant.

Today, Tant announced the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and nine U.S. House Democrats, including Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and all four members of Palm Beach County’s House delegation — Reps. Ted Deutch, Alcee Hastings, Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy.

Clendenin this afternoon unveiled the endorsement of Alex Sink, the party’s 2010 nominee for governor and a potential 2014 candidate. He also has the support of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa.

Tant and Clendenin are vying to replace Rod Smith, who isn’t seeking reelection as party chairman.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West of Palm Beach Gardens lost his November reelection bid, but he snagged two votes for speaker of the House when the newly seated 113th Congress selected its leader today.

There is no requirement that the speaker be a member of the House.

Reps. Paul Broun, R-Ga., and Louie Gohmert, R-Tex., voted for West, joining seven other Republicans who voted for someone other than John Boehner. Boehner — criticized by some Republicans for supporting a “fiscal cliff” deal that broke the GOP’s anti-tax pledge and didn’t rein in entitlement spending — got 220 votes to retain his speakership.

West, who voted against the fiscal cliff deal, is in Phoenix today with his family to watch tonight’s Fiesta Bowl between Kansas State and Oregon. West got a Master’s degree in political science at Kansas State and his wife earned a bachelor’s degree there.

West called the speaker votes “humbling” but said “I don’t think anything about it. I’m out here for a football game.”

West was elected in 2010 to Palm Beach-Broward District 22, but after redistricting he ran in adjacent District 18. Democrat Lois Frankel won the District 22 seat and Patrick Murphy edged West in District 18. Murphy and Frankel were both sworn in today.

With 2013 dawning, soon-to-be-sworn-in U.S. Reps. Patrick Murphy and Lois Frankel, whose battleground districts include parts of Palm Beach County, have just completed a fund-raising rush before the ball fell at midnight last night.

It’s all part of an attempt by the two newly elected Democrats to replenish campaign accounts and look like they have some influential backing as they enter Congress. Most of all, brandishing a robust bank book as of the Dec. 31 fund-raising deadline may help ward-off possible challengers in 2014.

Story here:  http://bit.ly/VqpbtK

With just days remaining until the race is decided, Republican Adam Hasner is hammering Democrat Lois Frankel with this ad. He calls out Frankel for taking Digital Domain contributions (without referencing Digital Domain by name), and continues to criticize Frankel for the $13,000 bathroom that was built for the West Palm Beach mayor’s office under Frankel’s watch.