South Florida's Republicans veer from the GOP on the Violence Against Women Act

South Florida's congressional Republicans were among 23 of those in their party to vote Wednesday against the GOP version of the Violence Against Women Act. There's no word yet on why Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, David Rivera and Mario Diaz-Balart voted against the bill, but opponents charge it doesn't sufficiently protect gay, lesbian, transgender people, Native Americans and immigrants.

The House of Representatives passed the GOP-sponsored bill 222-205. The 18-year-old law written by then-Sen. Joe Biden dedicates federal resources to assist victims of domestic violence.

The vote puts the House at odds with the Democratic-controlled Senate, which approved its version of the bill last month on a bipartisan 68-31 vote. The Senate bill renews the act for five years, authorizes $659.3 million in annual spending and contains measures to help victims of sexual assault, improve emergency housing services for victims and consolidate some grant programs to make them more efficient.

Here's a statement from Rivera's office about his vote: "While there are many important provisions in the House version of VAWA, Congressman Rivera believed the bill jeopardized the safety of immigrant women who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault by unnecessarily eliminating legal protections for these victims. Congressman Rivera represents a district with a large immigrant population and intends on working with congressional leaders to ensure these legal protections for immigrant women are preserved in the final version of VAWA."

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., voted for the Senate version; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., voted against it.

Cuban Americans in Congress call for meeting with IKEA

The six Cuban-Americans in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday demanded “an urgent meeting” with the head of IKEA in North America to discuss whether the company used Cuban prison labor to make some of its furniture in the 1980s.

“It is the responsibility of every company to ensure that its products and their respective components are derived from responsible labor practices,” the two Senators and four House members wrote in a letter to IKEA’s Mike Ward.

“They certainly should not derive from the dark prisons of authoritarian regimes that repress their own populations, including the denial of basic workers’ rights,” added the letter to Ward, head of IKEA North America.

It was signed by Sens. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, and Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, as well as South Florida Republicans Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and David Rivera and New Jersey Democrat Albio Sires.

More from Juan Tamayo here.

UPDATED Ileana Ros-Lehtinen asks ICE to issue deportation stay for North Miami high school valedictorian; Bill Nelson sends letter; Marco Rubio calls for 'way to help talented kids'

Students staged a protest Friday outside North Miami High School for valedictorian Daniela Peláez, who as ordered by a judge this week to leave the country. The 18-year-old Peláez was brought to the United States from Colombia by her parents when she was 4.

A federal immigration judge issued the order for voluntary departure on Monday after Peláez's green-card request was denied. (Story by Paradise Afshar and Laura Isensee here.)

Though Peláez's deportation is not imminent, students protested on her behalf to draw attention to Peláez's case. And at least one member of Congress has taken notice.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, said in a statement Friday that she has sent U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement a letter asking the agency to intervene and stay Peláez's deportation.

"Congress needs to pass the Dream Act so that many young people can form part of our armed forces or attend college and contribute to our generous and great nation," Ros-Lehtinen said. "There are many such desperate cases in our community and, instead of causing such anxiety we can allow these teenagers to realize their dreams in a legal manner."

Ros-Lehtinen also said she met a student in a similar situation as Peláez earlier this week at Miami Jackson Senior High. The Dream Act would allow undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and who are students or serving in the military to obtain legal status.

Read Ros-Lehtinen's letter here.

UPDATE: Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, has also chimed in on the case, asking homeland security and immigration officials to explain Peláez's potential deportation.

"Given that the chief missions of our immigration enforcement are national security, public safety and securing our borders, how is it we have the time and resources to target a high-school honor student like Daniela?" Nelson asked in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. See Nelson's letter after the jump.

UPDATE #2: Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, issued a statement saying his office would reach out to Peláez's lawyer to learn more about her case. "I have always said that our country needs to figure o ut a way to accommodate high academic achievers brought here at a very young age by their parents but who now find themselves undocumented through no fault of their own," Rubio said. Read his full statement after the jump.

All Cuba politics are local...including in Ireland

The long arm of Cuban politics reached across the ocean this week to Galway, Ireland, where the city council is considering a monument to Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

Please reconsider, said Miami's Cuban-American lawmakers in Congress, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"The romanticizing image that this monument would portray would serve to diminish the brutality that was committed by Che and the painful suffering endured by many Cuban-American families and his other victims far and wide," she said. "Che Guevara was a ruthless killer who should not be idealized.  Instead of honoring a killer, the City Council of Galway should honor the victims of Che and the Castro dictatorship by rejecting this proposal."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, called Guevara a "merciless executioner who reveled in the murder of men, women and children in cold blood."

"Galway is a city where people have the right to vote, the right to worship freely, the right to speak freely, and access a free press -- all of which "Che" Guevara and his murderous associate, dictator Fidel Castro, ruthlessly suppressed," Diaz-Balart said. "Having a memorial to this cruel assassin is a shameful affront to the thousands of Cubans he murdered and utterly ignores the truth of who "Che" Guevara actually was."

The Irish Times reported this week that the proposal has the full support of Galway's city council, and is currently before a public arts subcommittee. The Cuban and Argentinian embassies will pay for the project, the Times reported.

"It's not going to cost a red cent to the taxpayers of Galway city or the nation," Galway City Councillor Billy Cameron told another Irish newspaper.

Guevara's grandmother, Ana Lynch y Ortiz, was descended from one of the Lynch family of Galway who emigrated to Argentina in the mid-18th century, the Times reported. Guevara reported mentioned his grandmother's Irish roots during a stopover in Shannon in 1965.

Voting shifts weaken Republican strength of Miami Dade's congressional seats

To understand the demographic shifts of Florida’s growing Hispanic vote, you need only look to South Florida, where three congressional districts long dominated by registered Republican voters are being crowded out by more Democrats and independents.

Tallahassee has taken notice. This week, legislators approved a redistricting plan that would offer safer and stronger districts for Miami’s three Cuban-American Republican lawmakers, U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and David Rivera.

Since 2002, the last time legislators reconfigured the political districts to reflect the new census data, the number of registered voters has soared in their districts.

Growth has been particularly strong among non-Cuban Hispanic voters, the majority of which have registered as independent, no party affiliation or Democrat, political analysts say.

The results have Democrats salivating while Republicans, armed with new maps, remain confident they will retain their stronghold. Story here.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen targets Allianz for its role in golf tourney

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, is again urging the PGA to drop the German insurer Allianz as a sponsor of a pro golf tournament in Boca Raton for the company's refusal to pay life insurance claims to Holocaust survivors.

Here's her statement on the tournament: "For seven decades, Allianz has failed to fulfill its obligations to Holocaust survivors," she said Monday in a statement. "Following World War II, survivors were denied access to funds they were owed when companies like Allianz told survivors they lacked the proper documentation to make claims on their families' insurance policies." 

"To add insult to injury, Allianz is sponsoring this event in Florida, home to one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors in the country. Allianz should be bending over backwards to ensure that this community is granted justice, instead of making excuses and then parading its assets in front of survivors. It is far past time for Allianz to open its Holocaust-era records and pay out Holocaust-era policies."

Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has taken a vocal stand as she pushes legislation through Congress that would allow potentially thousands of Holocaust-era policyholders in South Florida and elsewhere to sue Allianz and other European insurers in U.S. courts for unpaid life insurance policies. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is a co-sponsor. 

In last pitches to Hispanics, Mitt Romney's 'conviction' and Newt Gingrich's 'iron fist'

In a final bid to court Hispanic voters, the Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney campaigns dominated the Spanish-language talk show airwaves Tuesday morning during drive time. Their messages were similar: Vote for the candidate most likely to beat President Barack Obama.

Some of the ads were attacks -- Romney mocking Gingrich for the ties to former President Ronald Reagan that Gingrich plays up, a super PAC backing Gingrich saying Romney is not really pro-life. But some of the ads were positive, too. For a taste, click after the jump.

Bipartisan resolution to honor Vaclav Havel introduced by Floridians in House, Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,  are both introducing resolutions to honor the life of former Czech president Vaclav Havel. 

Havel, who died Dec. 18, helped usher the former communist nation into the West.

"President Havel’s vision and passion for human rights firmly planted the tenets of democracy in the Czech Republic and provided a model of peace and stability for other countries throwing off the heavy yoke of communist rule," said Ros-Lehtinen, who called Havel "a dynamic advocate for the Cuban people."

"We must never forget the selflessness that he embodied and his advocacy for all oppressed people, including those living under the totalitarian regimes in Belarus, Burma, Iran, China, as well as in my native homeland, Cuba," she said.

In the Senate, Rubio is cosponsoring the resolution with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. Other Senate co-sponsors include Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

The resolution has bipartisan support in the U.S. House, too, from U.S. Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif.; Dan Burton, R-Ind.; Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.; Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., Connie Mack, R-Fla.; David Rivera, R-Fla.; and Albio Sires, D-N.J.

 

SOTU reaction from South Florida's congressional delegation

Reaction to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address is rolling in from South Florida's congressional delegation:

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. "I'm actually very disturbed by the speech tonight. The President is on the verge of committing economic malpractice. How does raising taxes create jobs? How does raising my boss’s taxes help me keep my job? Why is he advocating policies that will punish people that are investing in American businesses that are creating middle class jobs? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s the kind of policies that have taken a bad economy over the last four years and made everything worse."

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.: "I'm really looking forward to working with a lot of my colleagues in a bipartisan way and in a civil way on some of the more specific proposals that the President outlined tonight, like creating manufacturing jobs right here and bringing them back from overseas. It's about time we start seeing more things designed and produced by American workers - and stamped 'Made in the USA.' And there was also a very special moment tonight in honor of Gabby Giffords. She has showed all of us what it means through suffering to have courage, and ultimately victory."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami: "Unfortunately, President Obama’s State of the Union is yet another example of lofty rhetoric and empty promises. Hispanic-Americans, like all communities, are looking for clarity and leadership," she said. "Our economy will not improve if we continue the failed policies of deficit spending and over-regulation. With national unemployment and unemployment in my home state of Florida so alarmingly high, it is time to put partisanship aside and unleash the power of the American entrepreneur."

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar: "I am acutely aware of the need to create jobs and a skilled workforce, and I am dedicated to doing just that. To this end, I agree with the President that the United States must recommit itself to manufacturing. We can’t make it in America if we don’t have anything that is made in America," he said. " believe it is time to shelve the political games and rhetoric that have divided our country over the past several years.  We must come together, as one nation, and make America great again."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami: "The American people need decisive actions from leaders during these difficult times, rather than more empty rhetoric. We need actions that will move our country forward, so our economy can flourish and create jobs. House Republicans have passed more than 27 bills to reduce spending, protect entitlements, and encourage new job creation; I encourage the President and his Democrat allies to join us in these efforts. The American people can't wait any longer to get back to work."

Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami: "While Florida residents continue to struggle to improve their own economic situation, President Obama gives his third State of the Union address. During the last three years our nation’s economy has worsened. The unemployment rate is higher than when President Obama was inaugurated and our national debt has grown to more than $15 trillion," he said. "If the President is going to speak on the importance of being hardworking and responsible, he has to lead by example."

 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Frederica Wilson pair up for State of the Union

The mingle movement for the president's State of the Union speech is in its second year, and U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, and Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, have already said they'll sit together.

The movement took off last year, as a show of unity following the Arizona shooting that killed six and injured 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Instead of sitting separately, as is the tradition, many members of Congress paired up with people across the aisle.

Ros-Lehtinen and Wilson serve together on the Foreign Affairs Committee. which Ros-Lehtinen chairs.

Here's what Ros-Lehtinen said: "I have known Frederica for many years and have watched her evolve into one of Florida’s most talented public servants. I am also proud to be able to say that bipartisanship has always been a priority for our Delegation and we do not need a special occasion to highlight it."

"Ileana is a true friend who I have known throughout my political career," said Wilson. "I consider her as the consummate mentor for the Florida delegation."

The state of the union speech is Tuesday, Jan. 24.