House Passes Venezuela Resolution from Florida Congresswomen

With concerns about Venezuela as the economy continues to plummet and food reserves growing short, the U.S. House passed a resolution from two congresswomen from Florida expressing concerns and taking aim at the Maduro regime. 

Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen unveiled their resolution earlier this month “expressing profound concern about the ongoing political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, urging the release of political prisoners, and calling for respect of constitutional and democratic processes.” 

More than half of the Florida delegation signed on immediately as Republicans Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Carlos Curbelo, Ron DeSantis, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ted Yoho and Democrats Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Alan Grayson, Alcee Hastings, Patrick Murphy and Frederica Wilson co-sponsored the resolution. 

On Tuesday, the House passed the resolution without objection. 

Wasserman Schultz weighed in on Tuesday after her resolution was passed. 

“This resolution states in no uncertain terms that President Maduro’s shameful and rampant corruption in Venezuela must end,” Wasserman Schultz said. “He has jailed political opponents, mismanaged the economy, and continued to refuse millions of Venezuelans calls for a referendum. Families all across Venezuela are starving, and their local stores’ shelves are empty of both food and life-saving medicine. The Venezuelan people are crying out for their voices to be heard and their rights respected, and we must ensure they are not crying out in vain. I thank my South Florida friend and colleague, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, as well as the bipartisan members who supported the bill, for their leadership on this important legislation,.”

Ros-Lehtinen, the former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who currently sits on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, also offered her take. 

“I am honored to stand alongside my South Florida colleague Debbie Wasserman Schultz in order to pass another bipartisan Venezuela resolution in the House of Representatives to condemn the misguided policies of Maduro’s corrupt regime while advocating for the release of all political prisoners, including U.S. citizens, and for the respect of democratic principles,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “We must not let Maduro continue to stall the democratic processes in Venezuela for his own political gain.  The humanitarian, economic, and political situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate quickly and the international community needs to re-focus its efforts to help the Venezuelan people who are yearning for freedom and for convening recall elections in 2016.”