Diaz-Balart Drags Feet As Meltdown Hits Home

When Asked About South Florida's Top Priority, Diaz-Balart Asks for Study Time

For Immediate Release: March 31, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - After years of coasting through Congress on a one-issue platform, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21) knows he has the bull's-eye on his back in 2008 as he faces the first serious challenge of his political career.

And so far he's showing he's simply not up to snuff.

In an above-the-fold, front page spectacular, the New York Times on Sunday detailed the trouble faced by entrenched GOP lawmakers in wake of the housing market meltdown. Diaz-Balart did little to quash the idea that he's sat idle, making comments that suggest he would benefit from a tutor to brush up on the crisis.

While "his constituents angrily insist that he should be leading the charge for help on Capitol Hill," Diaz-Balart keeps "treading carefully." When asked how he will vote on expected Congressional efforts to stabilize the markets in the next several weeks, Diaz-Balart answered, "I haven't studied this sufficiently to commit right now" [New York Times, 3/30/08].

Are his constituents surprised that the eight-term Congressman representing ground zero for the housing meltdown has offered so little? Unlike in times past, Diaz-Balart, who ranks near the bottom of Congress.org's power rankings at 358 of 435, simply cannot afford to remain blissfully unaware of the problems facing Florida.

Florida's 21st congressional district contains parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties - two of the ten counties in the nation with the most foreclosures. South Florida real estate markets are some of the worst in the country.

"Lincoln Diaz-Balart had a prime opportunity in Sunday's New York Times to distinguish himself from the Bush-McCain thumb-twiddling by offering a new solution to America's housing crisis. But he failed, admitting that he was unequipped to offer anything other than more of the same silence," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Alejandro Miyar said.

"Ask him about Cuba and he's certain to wax on with carefully rehearsed dogma. But right here in Florida families are losing their homes. Lincoln Diaz-Balart is numb when the people need him most," Miyar said.

Diaz-Balart has already shown his failure to address the crisis Florida homeowners are facing. Just this month, he opposed the FY 2009 budget which creates a reserve fund for affordable housing, paid for through proposed reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [H.R. 312, #141, 3/13/08]