House Democrats cut Latin America committee. Salazar says region will feel ‘abandoned’

House Democrats are reducing the number of lawmakers who sit on the subcommittee responsible for Latin America affairs, drawing an objection from first-term Miami Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar.

Salazar, who made Latin America and Cuba policy a major part of her campaign for Florida’s 27th Congressional District, called the reduction of seats on the Western Hemisphere subcommittee — from 14 to eight — “a shameful example of how we are neglecting our neighbors.”

Earlier this week, Salazar sent a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks to oppose the allocation of subcommittee seats. She formally raised objections during a committee meeting on Wednesday.

Every two years, the new Congress shuffles the number of seats available on various subcommittees.

“Once again, Latin America faces threats from brutal socialist, communist dictators like Cuba, where my parents escaped from,” Salazar said during the Wednesday committee meeting. “Miami is closer to Managua than to Washington. Latin America should be an absolute priority now more than ever because they always look at the United States. Such a reduction will only be sending a message that we don’t care.”

Meeks told Salazar that she will be a part of any committee discussions or hearings related to Latin America, though subcommittee slots for Republicans have yet to be officially determined. Last month, Salazar was named to the Foreign Affairs Committee, which her predecessor, longtime Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, led from 2011 to 2013.

Salazar said she represents “South Florida, which is the capital of the Americas,” and that the region “will feel abandoned if we slash those seats.”

But Western Hemisphere subcommittee Chairman Albio Sires, a New Jersey Democrat who was born in Cuba and left the country as a child when Fidel Castro took power, said the smaller subcommittee will make it easier for lawmakers like Salazar who are interested in Latin America policy to have more impact.

“Just because we don’t have as many members as some of the other committees doesn’t mean we’ll be less effective,” Sires said. “If anything, we’ll get to ask more questions. We’ll get to grill more people and we’ll get to bring in more people to tell us exactly what is going on. Sometimes on a large committee you get one round of questions. With our committee, you can grill anybody we bring in.”

Five Democrats and three Republicans will serve on the subcommittee.

The Western Hemisphere subcommittee will now be the smallest of the six subcommittees within the Foreign Relations Committee. On the Senate side, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is the top Republican on the panel overseeing Latin American affairs.

During her campaign, Salazar focused heavily on Cuban-American and other non-Cuban Hispanic voters in Miami who swung hard in favor of Republicans during the 2020 election. Both Salazar and Cuban-American Rep. Carlos Gimenez, the Republican Miami-Dade County mayor, were elected, beating Democratic, non-Cuban incumbents.

Salazar has indicated that foreign policy will be a major part of her work. Her first bill in Congress, dubbed the Fighting Oppression until the Reign of Castro Ends Act, or FORCE, would prevent Cuba from being removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism until it releases all political prisoners and commits to free and fair elections. Gimenez and Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart have backed Salazar’s bill.

Salazar’s bill is unlikely to pass with Democrats controlling Congress.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put Cuba on the state sponsor of terror list shortly before leaving office on Jan. 12. President Joe Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, must initiate a review showing that Cuba did not engage in terrorism for the past six months to remove the country from a list that includes North Korea, Syria and Iran.

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 12:08 PM.