A message from Joe Garcia: $550k cash haul shows he's tough to beat in battle for House

@MarcACaputo

With a whopping $550,000 hauled in his first three months in office, Miami-Dade Democrat Joe Garcia signaled he’s a top freshmen fundraiser in Congress.

And the money, the lifeblood of campaigns, sends a message to Republicans: He won’t be easy to beat in 2014.

Garcia’s self-reported fundraising totals rival that of fellow Democratic freshman Patrick Murphy of Jupiter who also said he raised $550,000. But Murphy’s far more vulnerable.

Both Florida freshmen are considered at-risk, even by Democrats. They’re on the frontlines of the battle for the U.S. House – and therefore President Obama’s agenda. Just 16 Republicans stand in the way of Democrats controlling the House and all of Congress.

“My job is not to worry about people’s political perceptions. My job is to represent the people,” said Garcia, who bested a scandal-plagued Rep. David Rivera by nearly 11 percentage points in November.
Republicans say they won’t let Garcia rest.

They say they need the right candidate and the absence of the Obama voter-turnout machine to beat the Democrat. Florida Republicans tend to fare better than Democrats during non-presidential election years.

Rep. Joe Garcia: To avoid airport & seaport delays, Congress should give customs more money

@PatriciaMazzei

With federal budget cuts to blame for slow lines for passengers and cargo entering South Florida, U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia wants Congress to give Customs and Border Patrol Protection more money to speed things up.

In a letter he plans to send Thursday, Garcia will ask the House appropriations committee to "support strong funding levels" for customs officers.

"Arbitrary CBP cuts at our air and sea ports, in communities like Miami-Dade County, will only weaken our economy and destroy middle class jobs," wrote Garcia, a Miami Democrat.

Overtime pay for customs officers shrunk as part of the automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequester. In March, a busy month for South Florida tourism, that led to long waits for Miami International Airport for international passengers, many of whom missed their connecting flights and had to spend the night at the airport. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had warned about the coming understaffing in a February visit to MIA.

Cargo traffic has also been delayed -- including time-sensitive deliveries for South Florida's flower import industry, Garcia wrote.

Garcia plans to hold a news conference at the airport Thursday to draw attention to the problem and to his letter asking for support from other members of Congress. He will be joined by representatives from the airport, PortMiami, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Association of Floral Importers of Florida.

The headline of this blog post has been changed to remove the word "patrol." 

Marco Rubio's immigration expert draws fire from hardliners

Sen. Marco Rubio's decision to hire immigration lawyer Enrique Gonzalez, a longtime friend and practicing expert in the field, is drawing fire from the conservative Daily Caller (and its readers if you check the comments section):

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s top lawyer in the closed-door effort to draft a new immigration bill is a Democratic donor who earns his living by bringing foreign workers into the country on behalf of corporations and universities.

The lawyer, Enrique Gonzalez, is a partner at the nation’s largest immigration firm, whose future depends on the outcome of Gonzalez’s closed-door work.

Rubio hired Gonzalez in January, when he was a partner at the Coral Gables, Fla., office of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy.

On offense with Ryan budget, GOP bashes Joe Garcia vote in opening '14 salvo

@MarcACaputo

Yup, it's 2014 already. A conservative Super PAC is up with an ad already bashing new Congressman Joe Garcia for voting against the latest iteration of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's plan.

What makes the ad intriguing is that the GOP is on offense over the Ryan plan, something that caused them to scurry in the 2012 election cycle. Democrats pointed out changes it made to Medicare and that spooked Republicans.

Now Republicans seem ready to counter the attack by making it a debate about debt (and, yes, there's an argument to be made that Ryan's plan has its own financial problems).

The press release is after the ad

WASHINGTON - The Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC ), the super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and growing the House Republican Majority, released today their first ad of the 2014 cycle against Congressman Joe Garcia (FL-26) for voting against balancing Washington’s budget yesterday.

The House-passed budget would balance Washington’s budget, preventing our coming debt crisis and growing the economy. The ads will run on cable shows targeting women and will be accompanied by a similar paid digital ad campaign.

"Joe Garcia refused to support balancing Washington’s budget even though Florida families have to every month," said CLF Communications Director Dan Conston. "South Florida moms deserve to know why Congressman Garcia thinks Washington shouldn't follow the same rules they do."From 2011-2012, CLF raised a combined $55 million with their sister-organization the American Action Network, a 501c4 primarily focused on advocating for center-right policy solutions and the center-right movement.

Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation rated the $21 million in independent expenditures spent by AAN & CLF the #1 and #2 Highest "Returns on Investment" of conservative groups.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez to visit Congress

@PatriciaMazzei

Yoani Sánchez, the dissident Cuban blogger who since last month has been on an international tour after being granted a passport, will meet with U.S. senators and representatives on March 19, Sen. Bill Nelson's office announced Monday.

Nelson, of Florida, and Miami Rep. Joe Garcia, both Democrats, invited Sánchez to visit. She plans to spend a couple of days in Washington D.C., and she is scheduled to stop in Miami in April.

"I look forward to this meeting and her unique view of the realities of life in Cuba," Nelson said in a statement.

Read the full statement after the jump.

Miami U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia: Aid Venezuelans who fled Hugo Chávez

Cuban-American U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Miami, announced Monday that when the immigration reform debate begins in the House he will present an amendment that would grant permanent residence to tens of thousands of undocumented Venezuelans living in the United States.

“Many of these people have spent a big part of their lives here,” Garcia said at a press conference at his office in west Miami-Dade County. “Many are people who attend schools with our children, who are business partners with us and who live in a very difficult status and we want to give them a forward solution.”

Garcia’s Venezuelan Liberty Act is a response to requests from leaders of the growing Venezuelan community nationwide to provide immigration relief to undocumented Venezuelans, many of whom not only lack immigration papers but also fear they will be persecuted and tortured if they are sent back to their country.

Garcia’s proposal is the first concrete action in the form of a bill that would benefit Venezuelan immigrants who are in the country illegally and do not have a police record. If the proposal were to become law, it would grant green cards to Venezuelans who have arrived in the U.S. from Feb. 2, 1999, when Hugo Chávez took office as president of Venezuela, until now, according to an explanatory sheet from Garcia’s office.

More from Alfonso Chardy here.

Broken borders? Forget Mexico. Check out lines, CPB staff at Miami International Airport

@MarcACAputo

For a picture of the nation’s border struggles, look at the long lines and understaffed international-passenger checkpoints at Miami International Airport.

Up to 1,000 passengers in a single day have missed connecting flights at the airport — the busiest in the nation for international flights — because they’re held up at the Customs and Border Protection facility.

And the problem could get even worse next month because of looming federal budget cuts, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday after visiting the airport.

“Everything we are trying to do here — the additional staffing, overtime, technology…. will come to a screeching halt,” Napolitano said.

Joe Martinez says he'll challenge Joe Garcia

Joe Martinez, the former Miami-Dade Commission chairman who lost his bid to become county mayor last year, said Friday that he intends to run against Congressman Joe Garcia in 2014.

"I'm meeting with different people and feeling them out, seeing what the level of support will be there," Martinez told The Miami Herald shortly after announcing his intentions on Facebook. He wants to get in the race, Martinez said, "to shake it up."

Martinez's name has been floated in political circles in connection with the 26th Congressional district since Garcia, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Rep. David Rivera in November. The district extends from Kendall to Key West.

Martinez, a Republican, said he sees himself as a pragmatist in tune with residents' needs after his 12 years on the County Commission, including two terms as chairman. In his first term, former Mayor Carlos Alvarez campaigned for a strong-mayor referendum. In his second, Alvarez was recalled. Both times, Martinez said, he helped lead the county. "It actually ran really smoothly," Martinez said.

He gave up his seat last year to unsuccessfully challenge Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Martinez said Friday that he has since opened a public relations and business development consulting firm.

Garcia's chief of staff, Jeffrey Garcia (no relation), said from D.C. that the congressman "is focused on doing the work that the people sent him here to do."

"There'll be plenty of time for politics later," he added.

Martinez, conceding that "it's too early to tell" how well Garcia will do as a freshman congressman, said he's committed to running in two years.

"I've survived Miami-Dade politics," he said. "What's Washington?"

Rep. Joe Garcia welcomes Sen. Rubio's "evolution" on immigration

Newly elected Rep. Joe Garcia, who beat Sen. Marco Rubio's longtime friend David Rivera in the last election, gives the Republican a little praise for his immigration proposal.

And Garcia implicitly asks: What took you so long?

The statement:

"For years we have pushed for a solution to our ineffective and unjust immigration system and I believe 2013 will be the year this goal becomes a reality.  I wholeheartedly welcome Senator Rubio's and others evolution on this important issue and welcome with them with open arms to  join our cause."

 "The Senate's blueprint is a positive step toward this important goal and as a member of the Immigration Subcommittee I look forward to reviewing the details with the Senate. Their 'tough, but fair' approach provides a good foundation for the legislation that is needed. What is most encouraging about their plan is the earned pathway to citizenship, which must be reasonable and begin quickly. It is our hope that our Republican colleagues in the House will see this as a workable framework and be fully willing to cooperate on common sense solutions that will benefit all Americans."

 

Lois Frankel, Joe Garcia sworn into Congress

WASHINGTON -- Lois Frankel, the former mayor of sunny West Palm Beach, had to buy her first pair of winter boots in decades. Joe Garcia, who represents southern Miami-Dade County and the Keys, found a temporary room at University of Miami President Donna Shalala’s home in Georgetown.

As Garcia and Frankel joined their colleagues being sworn in Thursday, the two newest Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Florida have already found plenty of ways to get comfortable in Washington, D.C.

Both have spent time in Washington before. Frankel attend law school at Georgetown University and Garcia ran the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Minority Impact early in the Obama administration.

And both are ready to make their mark. Frankel, whose district stretches from Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County to Fort Lauderdale and Plantation in Broward County, vows to be a champion at constituent services, as well as fighting for women’s health care issues, Medicare and Social Security. But she also said she sees transportation as her No. 1 area of focus.

She’ll be sitting on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where she hopes to remind fellow members that there are two ports, a railroad, the Intracoastal Waterway and plenty of other transportation needs in her stretch of Florida.

“I think being on the Transportation Committee will allow me to focus on economic issues that are very very important back home,” she said. “These are issues that will drive the economy, that will drive issues back home. If I can’t do my part in giving a boost to the South Florida economy, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a congressperson.”

More from Erika Bolstad here.