Members of the Florida congressional delegation are starting to move up the leadership ladder as the new Congress reconvenes in January.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., will take over as chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations.
I am honored to have been chosen to chair the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, Diaz-Balart said on Thursday. I look forward to working with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers and other committee members to best solve our nations transportation and housing issues. It is of utmost importance that we prioritize transportation initiatives that will improve our local communities, while also providing housing solutions for those most in need. I will work tirelessly to uphold the high standards established by former subcommittee chairmen, including the Honorable Tom Latham and our very own South Floridian, the Honorable Bill Lehman. I would like to thank Chairman Rogers for this opportunity and am grateful for his continued friendship and leadership.
Diaz-Balart is not the only Florida Republican with appropriations in his future. Having just won his first full term in the House, U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., is headed to the Appropriations Committee.
I am honored and humbled to be named to the Committee on Appropriations, Jolly said on Thursday. It is the ultimate watchdog committee, scrutinizing virtually every federal program, identifying and eliminating duplicative federal services and areas of waste, fraud, and abuse. The committee is also the body that identifies areas of critical national investment from national security to early childhood education, to the environment, to transportation and infrastructure. And finally, the committee is the place of first response within the Congress to national emergencies like hurricanes and natural disasters, and matters of international conflict and war.
Over the next two years, Congress and the president will be looking for areas to work together but will naturally face areas of strong but constructive disagreement, Jolly added. As a guardian of taxpayer dollars, I look forward to working with the other committee members in a transparent way to protect taxpayers interests.
On the other side of the aisle, while she did not end up as the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), admittedly a large role for a congresswoman who just won a second term, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., will be part of her partys leadership, sitting on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee which makes committee assignments and shapes policy.
It is an honor to represent Florida and Georgia on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, said Frankel. This is a great opportunity to bring forth a positive agenda that protects our seniors, stands up for veterans, and advances middle-class families.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
