Foreign Affairs

This week the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus was re-introduced in the House of Representatives with a kick-off reception honoring Congressman Xavier Becerra and Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño, who served as inaugural co-chairs of the Caucus last Congress.

Tomorrow the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) will host its 3rd annual Future Leaders Conference in Washington, DC. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference including Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who serves as Chairman of CHLI, will participate in the event and offer remarks.

U.S. Congressman Diaz-Balart joined a bipartisan Congressional Delegation trip to Haiti today led by Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-FL) and with his colleagues Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

Today Congressman Diaz-Balart and Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) announced that they have introduced the Congressional Contaminated Drywall Caucus in the House of Representatives.

Today, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Congressman Diaz-Balart sent a letter to the respective leaders of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations urging that emergency funding be included in the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 for Chinese drywall investigations by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and other federal agencies.

Today, an amendment introduced by Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Congressman Diaz-Balart calling for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in consultation with the Secretary of Treasury, to conduct a study of the effect of the presence of contaminated Chinese drywall on residential mortgage loan foreclosures, was added to the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act.

Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Congressman Diaz-Balart sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Acting Director Dr. Richard Besser urging the agencies to act as quickly as possible in testing and determining the health and safety risks posed by Chinese drywall.

U.S. Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart issued the following joint statement today describing as a “serious mistake” President Obama’s decision to unilaterally increase travel and remittance dollars for the Cuban dictatorship.