Q&A of the Day – Are South Florida’s Representatives, representing your interests?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry...
When Elijah Cummings died I realized that I seem to have lost my Congressman. Representative Alcee Hastings seems to be AWOL. With all the conversation about impeachment and Ukraine I don't recall hearing any comments from him in the media. Now,I know he is ill. Do you have any information on this? Is he in Washington? Is he attending sessions? Representing his district?
Bottom Line: I can’t speak to how well he is, but Alcee Hastings is still representing his district in Washington most of the time. He voted as recently as last Wednesday (23rd). He hasn’t responded to our inquires either but then again, the only two Democrats from South Florida in Congress who have are Ted Deutch and Donna Shalala. One way you can keep up with members of Congress is with Project Vote Smart. You can sign-up and select members of Congress you’d like updates on and you’ll be notified when votes happen.
While looking up Representative Hasting’s voting record, I went ahead and pulled all current South Florida Representatives in Congress. GovTrack completes comprehensive updates of voting records, including attendance annually. Because Representatives Shalala and Murcarsel-Powell are freshman, we don’t have a full attendance report recorded yet. As for the others – here’s what it looks like.
Percentage of all votes missed:
- 0.9% - Brian Mast
- 6.3% - Debbie Wasserman Schultz
- 6.9% - Alcee Hastings
- 6.9% - Lois Frankel
- 7.1% - Ted Deutch
- 7.5% - Mario Diaz Balart
- 15% - Frederica Wilson
Incidentally, Elijah Cummings had the worst attendance record for the prior Congress, at just over a third of all votes missed as he regularly was out for health reasons. In South Florida, clearly Brian Mast is the most representative of his constituents and Frederica Wilson the least. Alcee Hastings might not be highly visible these days, but he is still making more than 9 in 10 votes in the House.