South Florida lawmakers and the top roles they'll have on committees

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — U.S. foreign policy will be dictated by President-elect Donald Trump.

It will be influenced by Trump’s pick for national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla.

And policy will be implemented by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., once he’s confirmed as secretary of state.

A fourth Floridian also will have a role.

Less known than the others, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican who represents northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, is the new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He’s the only Florida committee chair in the House.

“Under my leadership, our committee will have a clear mission statement: Every dollar and every diplomat will put America First,” Mast said in a statement after he was chosen by the House Republican Conference. Mast said he’d work to “repair our broken foreign policy.”

His elevation to the top job on the committee owes partly to his expertise, his coming from a state with a large Republican delegation, and his ability to win over his majority-party colleagues.

He defeated three more senior members of the committee for the top job.

When Mast was recommended for the top post by the House Republican Steering Committee last month, it was described as a “surprise” by the Washington, D.C., news site Roll Call. Axios reported he’d been a “dark horse” candidate.

“Brian is a true champion for freedom, both at home and abroad. His unwavering commitment to defending American values and confronting America’s enemies, honed through his service and sacrifice on the battlefield, sets him apart as a powerful advocate for our country,” U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Vern Buchanan and Byron Donalds, the three Floridians on the Steering Committee, said in a statement.

Mast is a strong supporter of Trump and critic of President Joe Biden.

When Biden announced in July he was dropping out of the presidential race, Mast wrote on social media that he should resign. “Unfit to be president for 1 more second.”

He has voted against U.S. assistance to Ukraine, which has been fighting to repel Russian invaders.

After one of those votes, Mast wrote that “the Biden Administration has failed to lay out any strategic objective for the United States’ involvement in Ukraine” and said there needed to be a better explanation on how the money was being spent and “how it will further American interests.”

Mast, 44, a former resident of Parkland serving his fifth term in Congress, is a former Army sergeant who lost both legs and a finger when a bomb exploded under him in Afghanistan.

Appropriations

Senior South Florida members have several leadership roles on the House Appropriations Committee, which irons out details of federal spending programs after spending parameters are negotiated by the president and congressional leaders.

Spots on the Appropriations Committee are highly sought after by members of both parties.

Diaz-Balart, a Miami-Dade Republican and dean of the Florida Congressional Delegation, is the new committee vice chair and continues as chair of the subcommittee for national security, the State Department and related programs.

Because of their enormous influence, the dozen subcommittee chairs are called “cardinals.”

Though he’s identified with Miami-Dade County, Diaz-Balart used to represent part of Broward, and was born in Fort Lauderdale.

Diaz-Balart is one of a dwindling number of lawmakers who come from an era in which Democrats and Republicans cooperated more and were less inclined to today’s approach of constant political warfare.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward Democrat and her party’s senior member of the House from Florida, continues as her party’s top member on the appropriations subcommittee that deals with military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies.

She was a cardinal when the Democrats were in the majority.

Wasserman Schultz also holds a party leadership role as one of three co-chairs of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a Palm Beach County Democrat, will serve as the top Democrat on the subcommittee chaired by Diaz-Balart that handles the State Department and other national security spending.

“Today’s world is marked by an unprecedented level of interconnected challenges,” Frankel said in a statement, adding that the panel’s work “helps reduce threats like terrorism and cyberattacks while supporting markets that drive U.S. economic growth.”

Other Democrats

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, who represents South Broward and Miami-Dade counties, is the top Democrat on the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Broward-Palm Beach county Democrat, is her party’s top member of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee on the Mast-led Foreign Affairs Committee.

Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement that the subcommittee’s work is “of grave importance” and promised to work to “ensure that America continues to stand with Israel on a bipartisan basis, holds Iran and their terrorist proxies accountable, and dismantle terror organizations who aim to do us harm.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, was named top Democrat on the Oversight & Intelligence Subcommittee of the Mast-led Foreign Affairs panel.

“As global threats become more and more prevalent, the United States must maintain a robust yet efficient foreign policy response, including through our relationships in the intelligence community,” Moskowitz said in a statement.

He’s now a member of the Judiciary Committee and left the Oversight Committee.

The oversight and judiciary committees are both known as places that often feature lots of partisan theatrics, especially when the House is controlled by one party and the White House is controlled by another party.

Moskowitz, who is beginning his second term in the House, generated lots of attention for his combative relationship with the Oversight Committee Chair, James Comer.

During one exchange in 2023, Moskowitz questioned Comer’s ethics, and the chairman, evidently referring to Moskowitz’s blue suit, responded that, “You look like a smurf.”

Moskowitz responded on social media that “Gargamel was very angry today,” a reference to a villain in the Smurfs world.

Last year, Moskowitz reposted a clip of Comer on social media, with commentary that included a poop emoji. On Wednesday, Moskowitz posted a picture of a restroom stall in a public restroom — featuring a copy of Comer’s book on the shelf above the toilet paper dispenser.

On Thursday, Moskowitz told a CNN interviewer that there would be more to come. “Just because I’m leaving oversight doesn’t mean I’m leaving James, I promise you.”

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