Democratic U.S. Rep. and Senate candidate Kendrick Meek, on a conference call with reporters, said he missed Tuesday’s vote on financing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because it was originally scheduled for later in the week and moved up at the last minute.

Meek was campaigning in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach early Tuesday and didn’t get to Washington until it was too late, a spokesman said earlier today.

With Democrats increasingly divided on the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, Meek said he would have joined the majority in the 308-114 House vote for more money for military operations.

“My record stands clear, that I’ve supported the men and women in uniform,” Meek said on the conference call. He noted the large margin by which the bill passed and added that “there was not a threat that the funding was not going to be approved.”

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, voted against a spending bill Tuesday to continue financing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill passed 308-114, with Hastings and 101 other House Democrats going against the wishes of President Obama.

Palm Beach County’s other House members — Democrats Ted Deutch and Ron Klein and Republican Tom Rooney — supported the bill.

Hastings Chief of Staff Lale Mamaux on Hastings’ vote:

Congressman Hastings joined a majority of his colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in voting against the supplemental appropriations bill. The Senate version of the bill that the House passed was stripped of critical domestic and CBC priorities (i.e. funding for teachers, police, and fire fighters, Pell Grants, youth summer jobs, TANF Emergency Contingency Fund, and settlement funds for the decades-old discrimination Pigford and Cobell lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Ag).

Furthermore, as it pertains to Afghanistan the Congressman believes that it is past time that we re-examine our strategy in Afghanistan. He is a co-sponsor of H.R. 5015, to require a plan for the safe, orderly, and expeditious redeployment of US Forces from Afghanistan. The legislation was introduced by Congressman Jim McGovern on April 14, 2010.

With Democrats increasingly divided on the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 308-to-114 late today for a supplemental spending bill that includes $37 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Obama’s request got more support from Republicans (160 votes) than Democrats (148 votes). Local U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, voted yes. U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, joined 101 other Dems and 12 Republicans in voting no.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, did not vote. Meek, who’s running for U.S. Senate, was campaigning in South Florida earlier in the day.

Click here to see the complete roll call.

Former state Rep. Gayle Harrell of Stuart is in Iraq, where she was part of a seven-member group from the National Foundation for Women Legislators that monitored Sunday’s elections.

Harrell said she was inspired by Iraqi voters who were not intimidated by terrorists who tried to disrupt the elections. Harrell said explosions of home-made “bottle bombs” slowed down voting but didn’t scare away voters.

“They were not intimidated by this. They were very angry…They were in total defiance of the terrorists,” Harrell said by telephone from Baghdad, where she’s staying at the U.S. Embassy.

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Conservative freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, doesn’t often join with the likes of liberal Democratic U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich, Maxine Waters, John Conyers and Fortney H. “Pete” Stark. But Rooney and most of the House GOP were joined by 32 largely anti-war Dems in Tuesday’s vote on appropriating money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The $106 billion measure passed 226-202, with 221 Democrats — including local U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, Ron Klein and Robert Wexler — in favor. All but five Republicans voted against the measure, objecting to an array of non-military measures added to the bill.

Statements by Rooney and Kucinich illustrate the odd coalition that voted against the bill.

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All 47 Democratic freshmen members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed onto a letter by Rep. Ron Klein calling for Iraq to pay more for its reconstruction and the training of its military and police.

“The people represented by these distinguished members of Congress cross every demographic and geographic line imaginable. This is what America looks like,” Klein said in a statement.

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It’s time for the Iraqis to pay for the reconstruction of their country and the on-going presence of U.S. troops there, says U.S. Rep. Ron Klein.

Klein, a Democrat from Boca Raton, has sponsored a “sense of the House” resolution that would require the Bush administration to treat future expenditures for reconstruction, training of the Iraqi military and police, and fuel for U.S. vehicles as loans to the Iraqi government.

“Agree or disagree on the war, it’s time for the Iraqis to stand up for themselves and pay for this effort … no more blank checks,” Klein said in an interview.

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U.S. Rep. Ron Klein wasn’t wowed by President Bush announcement today about troop deployment periods.

Klein described Bush’s Iraq plan as “calling for more
money, more time, and more sacrifice from our soldiers and their families. Yet the American people, and many of us in Congress, believe
it is time for a strategic shift when it comes to our Iraq policy.”

It’s time for the Iraqis to shoulder the cost of their country’s reconstruction, Klein said.

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U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler mentioned the death of a South Florida soldier in Iraq when he questioned Gen. David Petraeus during a congressional hearing today.

Wexler said he spoke last night to Len Wolfer of Boca Raton, whose son, Army Maj. Stuart Wolfer, 36, was killed Sunday while working out in a gym in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Wexler, who had asked his constituents for question for Petraeus, said Wolfer asked: “For what? For what had he lost his son?”

See Wexler’s full question and Petraeus’ response here

As President Bush prepares to make good on his threat to veto the war spending bill with its deadlines for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Rep. Tim Mahoney was one of many Democrats calling on the House floor for him to reconsider.

Here’s what Mahoney said today on the House floor:

“Madame Speaker On Sunday, in a speech at Miami Dade College, the president said to graduating students, quote, ‘One of the great strengths of America is that the most important issues are decided by the will of the people,’ end quote.

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As Congress prepares for a vote on a nearly $100 billion spending bill to finance the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Rep. Tim Mahoney joined other “Blue Dog” Democrats in calling for an accounting of war spending.

“An estimated $9 billion of Iraq reconstruction funds are missing,” Mahoney said today during House speeches managed by the conservative Blue Dog coalition.

Here’s the full text of Mahoney’s speech:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Florida’s 16th Congressional District in support of H.Res.97, providing cost accountability for the Iraq War.

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Here is the text of Ron Klein’s speech to the House on the Iraq resolution:

I stand here today in support of H.R. 63, which opposes the president’s decision to deploy 21,000 additional U.S. combat troops to Iraq.

I am also here today to specifically honor the Broward County Veterans Council, who recently adopted a resolution concerning the war in Iraq.

The Broward County Veterans Council represents a host of veteran groups throughout Broward County, Florida, including the Broward chapters of: the American Legion; AmVets; the Disabled American Veterans; the Fleet Reserve; the Gold Star Mothers; the Italian American Veterans; the Jewish War Veterans; the Marine Corp League; the Navy League Council; the Order of the Purple Heart; the Paralyzed Veterans Association; the Reserve Officers Association; the Retired Officers Association; the Veterans of Foreign Wars; the Vietnam Veterans of America; and the World War 1 Barracks.

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Here’s the text of Rep. Robert Wexler’s statement on the House floor regarding the resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to expand the number of American troops in Iraq.

All members of the House are being given the opportunity to make a statement on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker:

Today I stand with the American people —
in support of this resolution — and in opposition to the president’s escalation of the Iraq war.

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Rep. Ron Klein says two reports on the future of Iraq by the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of National Intelligence paint a dismal picture.

Klein notes that reports estimate that President Bush’s 21,500 troop “surge” is likely to involve some 48,000 support troops and cost between $20 billion and $27 billion.

“It is this type of poor planning and unwillingness to be forthright with the Congress and the American people, that created this disaster in Iraq in the first place,” Klein said in a statement.

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Gov. Jeb Bush was one of about a half-dozen governors participating in a discussion about the line item veto with President Bush in the White House Roosevelt Room when they were briefed on the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The governor said the president presented the information in a “matter-of-fact tone” and “wasn’t celebrating.”

“I didn’t get the sense that this was a time of celebration for the president,” the governor said. “Whenever I’ve talked to him or heard him speak, more importantly, about Iraq there is just a sense of purpose and resolve that is awe-inspiring.”

When the governors broke into spontaneous applause, the president said something along the lines of “thank the troops, don’t thank me,” his brother said, noting that it was not a direct quote.

Jeb’s reaction? “This is certainly great news.”