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U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Pembroke Pines is announcing her support for Dan Gelber’s AG campaign while U.S. Rep. Ron Klein of Boca Raton is backing Dave Aronberg.
Statements after the jump.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will join U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler, Ron Klein and Mario Diaz-Balart tomorrow on a tour of a Boynton Beach doctor’s home contaminated by Chinese drywall.
The entourage, which includes state Sen. Ted Deutch, will visit Steve and Jennifer Robert’s home in Cobblestone Creek. The Roberts’ daughter has been afflicted with frequent respiratory infections possibly caused by the toxic drywall.
Palm Beach County officials, including Wexler and Klein, have pushed Congress to do something about the tainted building product, as has U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
s had on the lives of the Roberts family, who own a home in the community of Cobblestone Creek. Dr. Steve Roberts and his wife Jennifer Roberts have struggled with their 16 month-old daughter’s frequent respiratory infections, and the fact that their home has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in value as a result of this toxic product.
WHO:
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan
Congressman Robert Wexler
Congressman Mario-Diaz Balart
Congressman Ron Klein
State Senator Ted Deutch
WHAT:
Press Availability Following Tour of Home
WHERE:
The home of Dr. Steve Roberts and Jennifer Roberts
10013 Cobblestone Creek Drive, Boynton Beach, FL
WHEN:
Tuesday, October 13, 10:30-11:30 am
President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress in February. He focused on economic issues then, but will talk about his health care agenda tonight at 8 p.m.
Heading into tonight’s address from President Obama, several of Florida’s U.S. House members say the dramatic moments from the August recess (here and here for just a couple examples) have served only to reinforce their positions heading into the break.
Wexler
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, says his pledge to oppose a bill that does not include a so-called public insurance option (essentially a new government health care program that would compete with the private market), isn’t so iron-clad. More on that shift here.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Ron Klein seems to moving in the other direction.
Allen West
West will host his own town hall meeting on health care tonight at 7 p.m. at South Florida Bible College in Deerfield Beach.
West says reform efforts should begin by properly identifying what inflates costs in the current system. He said reforms should reduce lawsuits, encourage employers to offer coverage to workers and address coverage for illegal immigrants, whose trips to emergency rooms incur costs that are ultimately passed on to the rest of us.
“When people talk about a public option, we already have a public option - in Medicare, Medicaid and the SCHIP option,” said West. “The federal government needs to show that it can effectively run those programs.”
Floridians so far have received less federal stimulus money than any of their fellow Americans, despite an unemployment rate here that ranks among the highest in the country and a budget crisis that few states can match.
Calabro
Florida has received more total dollars than all but three other states from a stimulus pot of about $198 billion so far for infrastructure projects and social services, according to figures reported this week by The Wall Street Journal.1 That total includes money Congress left for states to divide among themselves and other dollars that federal departments have already disbursed.
But Florida received just $505 per person, which ranks last among the 50 states, all U.S. territories combined and Washington, D.C., according to a Palm Beach Post analysis of the Journal’s data.
The numbers raise significant questions about the stimulus program, which President Obama said during a February stop in Fort Myers would help curtail the state’s rising unemployment rate.2
The U.S. House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing in West Palm Beach on Thursday at 10 a.m. in the city commission chambers to review the availability and affordability of homeowners insurance in the country.
The subcommittee will examine insurance industry coverage of catastrophic natural disasters, the withdrawal of insurance companies from offering policies in coastal areas, rising homeowners’ insurance premiums and the resulting economic impact on state and local governments, as well as possible solutions to the homeowners’ insurance crisis.
U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, will also participate in the hearing.
Said Klein: “I am proud to support Kendrick Meek for U.S. Senate. His hard work helped Democrats take back the majority in Congress in 2006. As a U.S. Senator, Kendrick will fight for our entire state and help pass critical legislation like the Homeowners’ Defense Act. He has my full support, and I look forward to seeing Kendrick working on the other side of the Capitol Rotunda soon.”
West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, a Democrat and former (and future?) congressional hopeful, has also endorsed Meek.
While Meek is the apparent Democatic frontrunner, a Quinnipiac University poll last week shows he’s little-known among voters, especially when compared to the GOP’s Senate frontrunner, Gov. Charlie Crist.
Minutes after she announced her candidacy for governor, Florida Democratic Party leader Karen Thurman and former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham endorsed Alex Sink.
Sink, with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson one of only two Democrats elected to statewide office, ended speculation about her run the day after Gov. Charlie Crist announced he would not seek reelection but would run to replace retiring GOP U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.
“In just a short period of time, Alex has already cut wasteful spending, cracked down on financial fraud and scams, reformed government contracting and provided our state with a fresh approach to solving problems and restoring Florida’s economy,” Graham said in a statement.
“Floridians are cheering today now that Alex Sink has announced her candidacy for governor. As a businesswoman who delivers real results for the people of Florida, CFO Alex Sink is not only the Democrats’ strongest candidate but she’s the very best candidate for the job,” Thurman’s release said.
Although Sink has been mum about her plans, her attention from national Democrats has not gone unnoticed.
Recently, one of Boca Raton U.S. Rep. Ron Klein’s aides, Stephanie Grutman, came to work for Sink. Sink hired spokeswoman Kyra Jennings, a veteran of several Democratic congressional campaigns, about three months ago.
House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, said today that he won’t challenge U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, for Congress in 2010:
“This is the right decision for me and my wife at this time,” Hasner said. “Representing the people of Florida and serving as House majority leader remains the greatest honor, and I will continue to be an advocate for the policies and principles that will get our state and our country moving again.”
After appealing to Warren Buffett to bankroll potential hurricane-related losses last year, Gov. Charlie Crist and other state officials will look to the federal government to help cover costs from a major storm this year.
“From the federal government’s standpoint, it would be one of the least risky things they’ve embarked on here in the last few months,” said John Forney, Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund financial adviser.
Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and state CFO Alex Sink all agreed Tuesday to push for a federal line of credit in case a major storm hits the state.
 U.S. Reps. Ron Klein (left) and Tim Mahoney (right) join Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., in calling for oil companies to drill on existing leases. Photo by Larry Lipman |
With the Capitol dome in the background making for a splendid photo op, freshmen Democrats in Congress lined up to endorse a plan that would force oil companies to drill for oil in gas on leases they currently own.
Citing administration reports, the Democrats say there are nearly 68 million acres of federal land under lease to petroleum companies that not being drilled.
The Democrats say only 20 percent of the acres leased offshore are being used for production and about 30 percent of the onshore territory.
U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney was ranked as the most effective freshman representative in Congress by Congress.org, a non-partisan organization that monitors Capitol Hill.
The same organization ranked fellow Palm Beach County Democratic Rep. Ron Klein as third on the list of 57 freshmen.
Meanwhile, as Q reported last month, National Journal, a longtime non-partisan publication that covers the federal government and national issues, ranked Mahoney as the “man-in-the-middle” in the House of Representatives with 214 members ranked as more conservative and 214 ranked as more liberal than the Palm Beach Gardens Democrat. The magazine has just come out.
Here are statements from local members of the Florida congressional delegation:
U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said: “The president delivered an uplifting assessment of where America stands in the world today, and where we are headed in the future. We clearly have much work to do - most pressing today are the areas of the economy, housing, health care, and the war on terror.
“The president talked about our economy and stressed the need for a quick, clean and bipartisan stimulus package. Families are counting on us to do what is right and to do it soon. There’s simply no place in this debate for partisan squabbling or localized and unrelated earmarks. As the president emphasized, federal lawmakers need to exercise fiscal restraint.
Gov. Charlie Crist threw a reception for the Florida congressional delegation Thursday evening and received a verbal bouquet from one of the state’s most partisan Democrats: Rep. Robert Wexler.
 Rep. Robert Wexler, Sen. Mel Martinez, Gov. Charlie Crist, Rep. Vern Buchanan |
Noting that both Democratic and Republican members of Congress had turned out for the reception, Wexler told Crist, a Republican, that “this is an extraordinary testament to you.
“We’re here from all parts of the state of Florida, Republicans and Democrats alike, we’re all here; we’re all smiling. No reflection on anybody else, but that hasn’t been done before.
“No governor, in my estimation, has brought us together as Floridians as you have,” Wexler went on.
“Don’t get messed up in anybody else’s campaign within the congressional area.”
That’s the advice former Rep. Sam Gibbons, a Democrat from Tampa, gave the current members of the Florida congressional delegation at their organizational meeting today.
“If you want to keep the peace, you’ve got to make peace,” Gibbons told the members.
Florida’s new Democratic members of Congress are already displaying teamwork.
Incoming Reps. Ron Klein of Boca Raton, Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach Gardens, and Kathy Castor of Tampa are jointly hosting a reception for friends and family who will be swarming the Capitol for Thursday’s swearing-in ceremonies at the start of the new 110th Congress.
The three new Florida Dems will be offering Florida delicacies including alligator tail and Key lime pie.
Florida’s two new Republican congressmen — Vern Buchanan from the Sarasota area and Gus Bilirakis from Tarpon Springs — will be having their own open houses in their offices.
Tim Mahoney called on Mark Foley to meet him in eight debates — one in each county of congressional District 16 — between now and Nov. 7.
Mahoney made the challenge Wednesday morning at a breakfast “Hob Nob” sponsored by the Jupiter, Tequesta, Juno Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Foley said the debate schedule would depend on the congressional schedule this fall, but he noted that the two candidates have appeared together at a number of forums such as the Hob Nob, and that more were scheduled.
Mahoney said that’s not good enough — he said he wants structured formal debates, not three-minute quickies like the Hob Nob format.
Robert Wexler and Ron Klein are heading to Israel next week to meet with top Israeli leaders and visit Kiryat Bialik, the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County’s sister city, which has been hit by Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.
Wexler is traveling as a member of the House International Relations Committee and the ranking Democrat on its Europe and Emerging Threats subcommittee. Klein will be spending his own money, according to his congressional campaign spokesman.
Clay Shaw raised nearly $1.3 million during the past three months, an amount his campaign says tops any Republican running for the House.
Shaw’s fundraising effort brings his cash-on-hand to more than $3 million. His campaign notes that Shaw raised more money last quarter than the two Democratic candidates for governor combined.
More than 80 percent of Shaw’s contributions came from more than 800 individuals in South Florida. Since January, the campaign said, Shaw has received contributions from 2,400 individuals.
Shaw’s opponent, Democrat Ron Klein, raised about $800,000 for the same period.
State Sen. Ron Klein says it’s time for Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. to “get off the fence,” and take a stand on a bill scheduled for a committee vote Wednesday on whether to permit oil and gas drilling 
beyond 100 miles off the coast.
Klein issued a press release Tuesday calling on Shaw to “fight to protect Florida against those who are trying to plant oil rigs along the state’s beaches.”
Shaw’s office called the suggestion ridiculous because even if the bill becomes law there won’t be any oil rigs directly along the state’s beaches.
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