Colombian brew

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy of bluster and threats faced a first test this weekend in Colombia.

The Republican President and Colombia’s leftist leader, Gustavo Petro, played the strongman role through public disagreements. When Colombia refused to allow two planes of deported migrants back into the country, Trump over Truth Social threatened severe sanctions, including tariffs on Colombian goods of 25% that would quickly jump to 50%. Gustavo, meanwhile, released a statement alleging Trump will “wipe out the human species because of greed.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in the first high-profile diplomatic conflict since his arrival in Foggy Bottom, announced financial sanctions on all Colombian government officials — and their families — if they intervened in the landing of planes.

Petro ultimately relented and allowed the planes to land. But a message remains pinned on his social media feed that publicly accuses Trump of abandoning the principles of Abraham Lincoln for a policy driven by racism and isolationism.

“You don’t like our freedom, OK? I don’t shake hands with White slavers,” a translation of the statement reads. “ … Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond.”

Republicans in South Florida, who criticized Gustavo’s politics since his election in 2022, tallied the episode as a victory for the administration and the U.S. overall.

“This is what real American leadership looks like,” posted Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, a Hialeah Republican. “Gone are the days of U.S. weakness.”

At least among the Republicans in the delegation, Gustavo was primarily responsible for the tumultuous weekend. Rep. Carlos Giménez called the Colombian leader a “disaster” and “dictator” and suggested Petro would soon face further consequences of “biblical proportions.”

Meanwhile, the Floridians now serving in high-profile foreign relations positions tallied the weekend negotiations as a Trump win.

After Fox News said Gustavo had “caved” in talks, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz posted: “That’s about right.”

Rep. Brian Mast, a Stuart Republican now chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement highly critical of Colombia’s role in the situation with migrants.

“We don’t allow our people to cross Colombia’s borders illegally; they shouldn’t allow theirs to cross ours illegally,” Mast said. “If they do, they should work with us to clean up the mess. The rule of law and the law of the jungle have returned.”

Notably, the episode impacts the Sunshine State more than any other in the nation. According to the Pew Research Center, about 31% of all Colombians in the U.S. reside in Florida, compared to 13% who call New York home.

As a result, delegation members predictably followed the weekend’s developments closely and suggested that more developments would follow.

“I have been warning for years that Petro is a danger to Colombia. His irresponsibility today threatens the relationship with the U.S. and the well-being of Colombians,” posted Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Coral Gables Republican, in Spanish. “I hope Petro takes a conscious step and rectifies. We are no longer in Biden’s time. With Trump, the game is different.”

It sets an interesting stage for Dan Newlin, the Orlando attorney Trump nominated as America’s next Ambassador to Colombia. He awaits confirmation in what could be an even more difficult diplomatic situation than initially expected.

Full speed ahead

After years of wearing a Navy cap through every Florida natural disaster, Sen. Rick Scott will have a more significant say in Congress on the seaworthiness of the nation’s military.

The Naples Republican will chair the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, which oversees Navy and Marines policy and programs. Scott noted much of the work by those branches of the military operates out of the Sunshine State.

“Florida is home to 21 military installations, three unified commands, thousands of active-duty service members and millions of veterans,” Scott said. “The state plays a strategic role in sea power readiness, including the homeport for many Navy and Marine Corps maritime assets that project power throughout the region and maintain national security.

“As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee for Seapower and a Navy veteran myself, I am looking forward to working with my colleagues to support the missions of the Department of Defense — especially when it comes to shipbuilding and submarine manufacturing to further cement America as the most lethal fighting force in the world. I will continue working to ensure the Sunshine State, America’s national security initiatives, our military, veterans and their families are supported.”

First assignment

Florida’s newest Senator is ready to hit the ground running.

“It will be an honor to serve on these committees as a voice for Floridians in the U.S. Senate. We have a lot of work ahead to move President Trump’s agenda forward and put America first,” Sen. Ashley Moody said.

The Plant City Republican will serve on five panels. Her previous Florida Attorney General and Circuit Judge roles will inform her legislative work.

Her experience as a jurist will undoubtedly be relevant to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Meanwhile, her aggressive battles with the former Democratic presidential administration will guide her thinking on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Finally, she is also on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee.

Chilling restriction?

The Environmental Protection Agency wants to reduce the creation of greenhouse gases. But Rep. Neal Dunn wants a new rule on freezer manufacturing to be put on ice.

The Panama City Republican wants Congress to nullify a new EPA regulation requiring the phasing out of hydrofluorocarbons in refrigerator production.

“The EPA clearly did not consider the undue burden they would place on American businesses when they finalized their sweeping refrigeration regulation,” Dunn said. “American grocers and restaurants do not need government regulators in their kitchens and storerooms, driving up operating costs and forcing them to pass that cost on to the consumer.”

He filed a resolution to exercise fiscal oversight on the EPA and nix enforcement.

“The Congressional Review Act is designed to address egregious over-regulation such as this, and I look forward to stopping bureaucratic red tape from further raising food prices for American families.”

Dunn’s office also shared support from management at a local Piggly Wiggly supermarket.

“The new refrigeration regulations are just more examples of Washington bureaucrats overstepping their bounds,” said Kevin McDaniel, owner/operator of a Piggly Wiggly in Sneads. “Complying with these financially burdensome refrigeration regulations will only hurt independent supermarkets like mine and drive up prices for our customers. As his constituent and local grocer, I’m very thankful for Rep. Dunn’s resolution to protect us from costly government overreach.”

Global tax surrender

Rep. Aaron Bean wants to use his new House Ways & Means Committee role to reclaim the nation’s taxing power.

The Fernandina Beach Republican and other colleagues on the influential Committee introduced the Defending American Jobs and Investment Act, which Bean said will exercise powers intentionally sidelined by former President Joe Biden’s “global tax surrender.”

“The Biden-Harris administration’s global minimum tax scheme was a bad deal for America,” he said. “It would have hurt our economy and destroyed U.S. jobs while serving to enhance China’s competitive advantage. With this bill, we are taking the next and necessary step to protect our sovereignty, restore our economic strength, and put America first.”

He specifically mentioned the undertaxed profits rule, which allows a country to increase taxes on a business that is part of a larger company that pays less than the proposed global minimum tax of 15% in another jurisdiction, according to the Tax Foundation.

If passed, Bean’s legislation will require the Treasury Department to identify extraterritorial taxes and discriminatory taxes enacted by foreign countries that attack U.S. businesses and apply any reciprocal taxes.

After taking office, Trump issued an order rescinding U.S. involvement in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Global Tax Deal. Bean said his legislation would follow through on that legislatively.

Trump-more?

Trump won another term in the White House, but does he belong alongside the historical figures on Mount Rushmore? Rep. Anna Paulina Luna thinks so.

As online supporters of the President posted a desire to engrave Trump’s image alongside Great Emancipator Lincoln, the St. Petersburg Republican said she was drafting a bill to do just that.

“I’m actually filing the legislation as we speak,” she posted Friday.

She later posted images, including a model sculpture of a five-faced Rushmore with Trump joining late presidents Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Washington on the South Dakota monument.

Eye on elections

Years after serving as Florida Secretary of State, Rep. Laurel Lee remains focused on election issues. Now, she will head the House Administration Elections Subcommittee.

The Thonotosassa Republican will also serve as Vice Chair of the full House Administration Committee, working closely with Chair Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican.

“It is an honor to be named the Vice Chair of the Committee on House Administration as well as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Elections. Prior to coming to Congress, I served as Florida’s Secretary of State, where I oversaw the state’s elections and worked to bolster voter confidence and ensure accurate and secure elections for all Floridians,” Lee said. “I would like to thank Chairman Steil for his leadership on these important issues and his confidence in me to serve in these roles. I look forward to continuing our work to ensure election integrity in the 119th Congress.”

Steil said Lee’s prior work on the issues would lead to further success for the panel.

“Congresswoman Lee brings invaluable experience and knowledge to the Committee,” he said. “We are eager for her to continue her excellent work for the American people.”

Parliamentary procedure

Rep. Vern Buchanan will continue to chair the House Democracy Partnership in this Congress. This bipartisan group interacts directly with the parliaments of other democratic nations worldwide.

“With ongoing global crises, our strength and leadership abroad is critical to combat growing aggression,” the Longboat Key Republican said. “As Chairman, I look forward to continuing the important bipartisan work of HDP to strengthen the democratic institutions of our partner nations.”

Buchanan first secured the position in 2023, appointed by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. New Speaker Mike Johnson re-appointed the co-Chair of Florida’s congressional delegation to the role for the current Congress.

During Buchanan’s tenure, the House Democracy Partnership worked with more than 1,600 members of parliament from 47 countries.

Foreign aid concern

Only one Democrat earned a shoutout from Secretary of State Marco Rubio at his first speech to State Department employees. Days later, Rep. Lois Frankel publicly called for her former Florida Legislature colleague to end a freeze on foreign aid.

The Ranking Democrat on the House National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee, Frankel questioned a Trump executive order freezing nearly all U.S. foreign assistance programs funded by the State Department and USAID for 90 days. But she said that cannot endanger alliances.

“While it’s reasonable for a new administration to review programs, I worry that this sudden and sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign assistance risks dire consequences for global health, safety, and security — including our own,” the West Palm Beach Democrat said.

“This will cause unnecessary hardship for vulnerable communities, undermine years of development progress, and damage our credibility as a reliable partner. This creates an opening for adversaries such as China and Russia to expand their influence.”

She co-wrote a letter to Rubio for fast action to release aid to countries including Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza.

“I urge the administration to resume aid while reviews are being made and work with Congress on policies that uphold U.S. global leadership and enhance the safety, security, and prosperity of the American people,” Frankel said.

For his part, Rubio said the pause in aid marked a time for critical review.

“Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” he said in a statement.

Perhaps an exception

Months after being the last Republican in Florida’s congressional delegation to endorse Trump, Rep. María Elvira Salazar has made a plea to the President not to crack down on so many immigrants in South Florida.

The Coral Gables Republican sent a letter asking the President to leave asylum protections in place for Cubans, Venezuelans and Haitians who have no criminal records. The message came as the Trump administration rapidly winds down humanitarian parole programs implemented under Biden.

“Although President Biden originally created this new program on dubious legal grounds and brought individuals here without a plan for their future, they were still enrolled under programs offered to them,” Salazar wrote. “Therefore, I believe they should have the ability to see their applications out to rectify their legal status.”

Florida has the highest concentrations of nationals from Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela of any other state, most of whom live in South Florida. Salazar said many live here legally under I-222A visas because they fled political persecution by brutal regimes in their home countries.

However, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the agency, under Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman, will take action to end abuse of the parole program.

“The Biden-Harris administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country,” the spokesperson said. “This was all stopped on Day One of the Trump administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.”

Smithsonian esteem

The Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents now includes a member of the Florida congressional delegation. Giménez will help oversee the budget for the nation’s most prominent museums.

“I am deeply honored to have been appointed by my friend, Speaker Mike Johnson, to serve on the Smithsonian Board of Regents,” the Miami-Dade Republican said.

“As the only Cuban-born Member of Congress, I look forward to working with my fellow board members to guarantee that the Hispanic, Cuban American, and Cuban exile experiences are accurately portrayed and represented in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection. The Smithsonian Institution is a crown jewel of our nation and should be a bastion of patriotism and American pride for millions of people across our country and the world to enjoy.”

The Board of Regents also includes Vice President JD Vance and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

On this day

Jan. 28, 1986 — “Challenger explosion stuns nation” via Florida Today — Several “small chunks” of the Space Shuttle Challenger were found in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Canaveral. Still, officials said there were no signs of the seven crew members. A nation that had cheered “the magnificent flying machine” as it roared off its launchpad fell into mourning. Space center regulars, usually the picture of “Right Stuff” stoicism, were stunned, then tearful, as the magnitude of the tragedy sunk in. Thousands of reporters rushed to the site of America’s worst space tragedy, the first fatalities in the Shuttle program.

Jan. 28, 1915 — “Woodrow Wilson vetoes Immigration Act” via the Law Office of Ryan Morgan Knight — The Immigration Act of 1915 included a codified list of excludable aliens, barred most Asian laborers, and required a literacy test for immigrants. In his letter to the House, President Wilson admired certain aspects of the Immigration Act but found it “embodies a radical departure from the traditional and long-established policy of this country”: closing the gates of asylum and excluding those already denied an elementary education “without regard to their character, their purposes, or their natural capacity.” The President could have ended his veto message there, but he further doubted the legislation’s legitimacy.

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Peter Schorsch publishes Delegation, compiled by Jacob Ogles, edited and assembled by Phil Ammann and Ryan Nicol, with contributions by A.G. Gancarski.

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