Lincoln Diaz-Balart - A Legacy of Failed Leadership

Lincoln Diaz-Balart does not represent the interests of South Floridians and continuously chooses to side with the Bush administration and special interest groups, rather than with our community.

Lincoln has continuously::
  • Supported the Iraq War, which has cost the lives of over 3000brave American soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.
    • Lincoln Diaz-Balart
  • Refused to demand a withdrawal date from Iraq.
  • Opposed a bill that would have required our soldiers to have a mandatory rest period between combat tours
  • Voted against the bipartisan SCHIP bill that would have provided over 700,000 kids in our community with access to healthcare.
  • Supports a failed foreign policy toward Cuba that separates thousands of families.
All of this has happened while the costs of our homes and insurance have gone through the roof. We deserve better leadership than this.


The Iraq War and Florida's 21st District

Impact on The Community
  • The cost to Florida taxpayers alone is $25.02 billion.

  • Taxpayers in the 21st congressional district are paying $1.07 billion for the Iraq war.



    • Trade Offs for Florida's 21st District

    Currently, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, Head Start is underfunded, college tuition is skyrocketing, our homeland is not secure with only one out of every 20 port containers getting inspected and our bridges and roads are aging. The $1.07 billion being spent on the unwinnable civil war in Iraq should be put to better use for American taxpayers where we need it most—in our own backyard, fixing our aging bridges and roads or improving the lives of our residents.


    What Citizens of Florida's 21st District Could Have Gotten Instead:

    • Health care coverage for 342,647 people—or 536,733 kids, or
    • Head Start for 144,426 additional kids, or
    • 19,728 new elementary school teachers, or
    • 344,786 scholarships to make college more affordable, or
    • Renewable electricity for 750,233 homes, or
    • 7,867 affordable housing units, or
    • 25,392 public safety officers to keep the streets safe, or
    • 13,158 port container inspectors for Florida.




    Data Sources

    Unless otherwise indicated, the figures provided for the cost of the war for each district and specific tradeoffs are all from the National Priorities Project, available on the web at http://nationalpriorities.org/

    The cost of war is based on an analysis of the legislation in which Congress has allocated money for war so far and research by the Congressional Research Service which has access to Department of Defense financial reports. The trade-offs are based on average cost per unit information for each state. More detailed information on the sources and the calculations of the averages can be obtained at http://www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=297&Itemid=7 .

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