Democratic congressional hopefuls Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy — who are vying for the right to unseat U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, in 2012 — have both blasted the bipartisan debt-ceiling compromise that Congress and President Obama approved last week.

On the afternoon of the House’s 269-161 vote for the debt deal, both Frankel and Murphy said they were still studying the legislation and hadn’t taken a position on it.

But Murphy on Saturday called the deal an “utter failure” and Frankel, in a fund-raising letter today, refers to the deal as “the same deal that is threatening to put our economy back into a recession.”

House Democrats split 95-95 on the debt deal, with much of party leadership joining West in voting for it. Yes votes included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., U.S. Rep. and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Most Senate Democrats — including Florida Sen. Bill Nelson — supported the bill. Obama signed it Aug. 2.

While not going to the lengths of U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and comparing domestic political opponents to terrorists, the two Democrats in Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and Alcee Hastings of Miramar — likened Republicans and tea partyers to hostage-takers in the recent debt-ceiling showdown.

Democratic congressional hopefuls Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy, vying for the right to challenge U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, both used the H-word to describe Republican tactics in interviews about the debt deal this week.

As the conservative Daily Caller enumerates (with more than a dozen examples from the last few days), the hostage metaphor has become the new talking point for liberal commentators from Al Sharpton to Chris Matthews.

And with debt debate dudgeon depleted, Democrats are now using the hostage-taking charge to slam Republicans over Federal Aviation Administration funding.

U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, and Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, today urged U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to intervene in a long-running dispute between the Kravis Center and a stagehands union.

The union and the West Palm Beach performing arts venue have been at odds since 2000, when center officials broke off contract talks and stopped using union stagehands. A federal appeals court in 2008 upheld two lower court rulings that the center had engaged in unfair labor practices and ordered it to return to the bargaining table. Talks broke down in January.

“As this conflict dates back over a decade, we therefore request that you please take a stand to compel the Kravis Center to change their course of conduct once and for all,” Hastings and Deutch say in a letter to Solis.

Kravis Center officials didn’t immediately respond.

Union members have not gone on strike, but have conducted “informational pickets” outside the Kravis Center from time to time. During last year’s U.S. Senate campaign, former Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek refused to cross the picket line.

Former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, who’s now a Democratic congressional candidate, and liberal comedian Bill Maher are among those who have crossed the informational pickets.

A voter-approved “Fair Districts” amendment pushed by Democrats and approved by voters last year is supposed to take the partisan politics out of redistricting.

But U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is apparently skeptical that the new law will end gerrymandering when new congressional boundaries are drawn next year by the GOP-controlled legislature.

As Thursday’s second-quarter fund-raising deadline approaches, Deutch is telling potential campaign contributors that “is essential that I demonstrate strong financial support as we enter the critical redistricting period where the district I am proud to represent will be re-drawn. Governor Rick Scott and his allies control the entire process for drawing new congressional districts, and Democrats without strong support will quickly find themselves targets. We cannot let this happen.”

The pro-Israel odd couple of the Palm Beach County congressional delegation — Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Allen West, R-Plantation — are teaming up for another event at Boca Raton Synagogue.

The pair appeared there together in April for a screening of Iranium, a documentary about nuclear ambitions and Islamic fundamentalism in Iran.

Now the congressmen are scheduled (with billing beneath Eitan Katz and band) to appear at a “Rally For An Undivided Jerusalem” on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the synagogue at 7900 Montoya Circle in Boca Raton.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who represents one of the largest Jewish constituencies of any House member, weighed in this afternoon on President Obama‘s Thursday speech that said Israel’s borders before the 1967 Six Day War, “with mutually agreed swaps,” should be the basis for any deal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A key paragraph from Deutch: “Yesterday, the President also spoke of the 1967 lines and land swaps. Should Israel find a partner for peace who is willing to join Prime Minister Netanyahu at the negotiating table, Israel cannot be expected to make any territorial concessions that do not acknowledge the reality on the ground. The 1967 borders are indefensible. References to ‘land swaps’ must mean that major Israeli population areas in the post-Six Day War territory, including the Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem, will forever continue to be a part of the Jewish state of Israel.”

Click here to read Deutch’s entire statement.

“Justice has been done,” President Obama said late Sunday night from the White House in announcing that a U.S.-led operation had killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and U.S. Reps. Tom Rooney and Allen West were quick to issue statements. U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch and Gov. Rick Scott have also weighed in.

Read their reactions after the jump….

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U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, says it’s “more than likely” he’ll vote against the budget deal cobbled together late Friday night by President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“Obama and Harry Reid ought to be ashamed of themselves and John Boehner ought to be doubly ashamed,” Hastings said today of the agreement to cut about $39 billion over the next six months. Details are still being worked out, but Hastings said it’s already apparent that “you’re getting ready to hurt poor people. I can tell you that without knowing where the cuts are coming from.”

Hastings in early March criticized Obama for being “slow out of the box” in budget talks. He reiterated that criticism today.

“I thought Obama should have been in much earlier. Quite frankly I think Obama is (concerned) about his 2012 election and couldn’t care less,” Hastings said.

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U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Allen West, R-Plantation, don’t agree on many issues, but both have been staunch defenders of Israel and opponents of the Iranian regime.

The two congressmen are scheduled to appear together Sunday night in Boca Raton for a screening of Iranium, a documentary about nuclear ambitions and Islamic fundamentalism in Iran.

The event is sponsored by Boca Raton Synagogue and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. It begins at 7: 30 p.m. Sunday at Boca Raton Synagogue at 7900 Montoya Circle. The program includes a screening of the hourlong film and a Q-and-A session afterward with Deutch and West.

Thursday’s U.S. House vote for a one-week stopgap funding measure was actually a vote on a defense authorization bill that would provide funding for the military for the remainder of the current fiscal year.

The largely partisan vote and the current fight over tonight’s looming government shutdown are merely previews of bigger budget battles to come.

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, had pledged he wouldn’t vote for any more stopgap bills, but unhappily voted for Thursday’s measure. He blamed Democrats for the situation reaching its current point, but he released a statement that also ripped the Republican House leadership for making military pay a “bargaining chip” in the budget debate.

“The House majority has now placed the funding for the Department of Defense and the funding for the troops down as a bargaining chip…I am disgusted at the perception that the leaders in my own party who did not move a defense bill earlier and are now using the men and women in uniform, the individuals who are defending our freedom, as a way to pass yet another continuing resolution,” said West, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.

He added: “my Yes vote today was for my brothers and sisters in uniform. My no sentiment reflects a disappointment in my own leadership.”

Read other statements from other members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation after the jump…

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CORAL SPRINGS — Reminders of wars past and present highlighted a town hall meeting here with U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and about 100 constituents.

Deutch presented a Bronze Star and Purple Heart and six other medals and commendations to 82-year-old Korean War veteran John Siple, a Coral Springs resident who said a records mix-up prevented him from collecting them when he left the Army in 1953.

A few minutes later, when Deutch fielded questions about Social Security and the budget from the mostly senior crowd, Siple asked about the current U.S. involvement in Libya:

“Why do we have to be the policeman for the whole world?”

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With significant defections in majority Republican ranks, the U.S. House today approved a three-week spending bill that, if also approved by the Senate, will avert a partial shutdown of the federal government looming Friday.

Most Republicans in the GOP-led House were supportive of the measure, which cuts $6 billion in spending on top of the $4 billion cut in the last stopgap spending bill. But there were 54 “No” votes in the Republican caucus, including U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, and other conservatives who are critical of the piecemeal approach. The GOP defections mean Speaker John Boehner needed Democratic support — which he got this time — to pass the continuing resolution.

The final vote was 271-to-158, with the unlikely duo of U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, voting yes while conservative West joined liberal U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, in voting no.

Read what local members had to say about the vote after the jump….

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Freshman U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, has opened a “leadership PAC” allowing him to raise money outside his regular congressional campaign and dispense contributions to favored candidates and otherwise boost his already considerable national profile.

The PACs are often used by aspiring House leaders to curry favor with colleagues (House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., used his PAC to contribute about $4.5 million to GOP House candidates over the last four elections) and by those with larger national political ambitions (then-Sen. Barack Obama’s Hope PAC spent more than $3.7 million in the 2006 election cycle as he laid the groundwork for a White House run).

Many members of Congress — including the three other members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — have set up leadership PACs.

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U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, pitched a bill to create a new unit in the Federal Trade Commission to focus on scams against seniors during a town hall meeting at Century VIllage that drew 200 or more constituents.

Deutch also used the phrase “reckless Republican budget” three times to describe the House-passed measure cutting more than $60 billion in spending for the remainder of this year. But Deutch said it does not appear the federal government will shut down Friday because the House and Senate appear to be nearing a two-week measure to keep the government running.

Read more by clicking here.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has given Florida an extra week to figure out a way to draw $2.4 billion in federal money for high-speed rail after Gov. Rick Scott rejected the grant Wednesday.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who met with LaHood and five Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation this afternoon, said he hopes Amtrak or a local planning or transit authority would step in to assume the risk of cost overruns after Scott said those risks were too great for state taxpayers. Private business could also be part of the mix, Nelson said.

Scott would still have to sign off on such an arrangement, Nelson said.

The deadline for Florida to accept the federal money was Friday, but Nelson said LaHood extended the date to Feb. 25. LaHood didn’t talk to reporters after the meeting in Nelson’s office.

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Federal candidates filed reports Monday showing their campaign bank account balances as of Dec. 31.

After raising and spending more than $6.5 million on his 2010 race to unseat Democrat Ron Klein, new U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, begins the 2012 cycle with only $52,459 in cash on hand. Should Klein attempt a comeback, he’ll begin with a mere $41,390 in the bank.

After a fairly easy glide to reelection in 2010, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, begins the 2012 cycle as the Palm Beach County delegation’s money leader with $432,474 in cash on hand.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, reported $128,766 in cash on hand.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, reported $161,204 in cash on hand.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley still has more than $1.2 million in his campaign account. And former Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s campaign still has $320,673.

The House of Representatives today passed a resolution that calls for limiting non-security spending to fiscal 2008 levels for the remaining eight months of the current fiscal year. It passed 256-to-165, with 17 Democrats joining 239 Republicans in support.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, sent out a statement hailing the measure as saving $60 billion and ending the federal government’s “spending spree.”

Three minutes later, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, sent out a statement blasting the resolution as “political theater” and lacking “seriousness.”

Rooney and Deutch plan to sit with each other at tonight’s State of the Union address.

Read their statements after the jump…

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U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, plan to sit with each other at Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech in Washington, their offices confirmed this afternoon.

In the aftermath of the Jan. 8 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., several lawmakers have discussed making a bipartisan show of unity and civility by sitting alongside one another without the traditional partisan separation when President Obama delivers his speech to a joint session of Congress.

Florida’s two Senators — Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio — have already announced plans to sit next to each other.

The Deutch-Rooney pairing is contingent on their ability to find each other Tuesday night and then locate a pair of seats together. The House chamber can be “kind of a madhouse” before a presidential address, Rooney said.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, called the civility effort “nice,” but said he’s “planning to sit wherever I can sit.”

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, said he’ll honor tradition by sitting on the Republican side of the chamber.

Members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation are reacting to today’s shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

Giffords was doing the kind of thing members of Congress in South Florida and across the country routinely do — conducting a “Congress On Your Corner” event with constituents at a shopping center in her district — when a gunman opened fire, critically wounding her and killing a federal judge and at least four other people.

Click here for a story on local reactions.

Read after the the jump for complete statements by local members of Congress and both Florida Senators….

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Though they are both relative newcomers to Capitol Hill, U.S. Reps. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, have been key positions in the 112th Congress that convened Wednesday.

Rooney, beginning his second term, will be one of about 20 deputy whips for the GOP. Deutch, who won a special election in April and his first full term in November, will be an assistant Democratic whip.

Whips in both parties are responsible for making head counts and rounding up votes on key pieces of legislation.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ranks third in the House leadership. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., is chief deputy whip and directly oversees Rooney and other other deputy whips. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, is chief deputy whip for Democrats.