Diaz-Balart, Colleagues Launch Everglades Caucus, Request $725 Million For Florida Everglades Restoration

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Everglades Caucus Co-Chairs, Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-26) and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL-25) hosted a roundtable discussion with Florida delegation Members and stakeholders to launch the Everglades Caucus and discuss priorities for the 118th Congress. Following this meeting, the co-chairs were joined by members of the Florida Delegation, Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Darren Soto (FL-9), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-10), John Rutherford (FL-5), Bill Posey (FL-8), Scott Franklin (FL-18), Brian Mast (FL-21), Carlos A. Gimenez (FL-28), Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24), Cory Mills (FL-7), Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Laurel Lee (FL-15), Michael Waltz (FL-6), Daniel Webster (FL-11), and Senator Marco Rubio, in a letter to President Biden requesting an allocation of $725 million in his FY24 budget request.

This photo includes only a portion of the FL members who participated in the Everglades Caucus roundtable, along with Col. James L. Booth from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. From left to right: Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, John Rutherford, Brian Mast, Col. James L. Booth, and Byron Donalds.

In the letter, the members stated: “The significance of the Everglades does not go unnoticed for Floridians and our community who have worked together for more than twenty years to restore its cherished wetlands. This continued restoration of America’s Everglades is not only a national, but a global model for large scale ecosystem restoration and infrastructure investment that supports economic vitality, and promotes a wide range of ecological and community resilience benefits.”

Read the complete letter here or below.

“Dear President Biden:

As you prepare your Fiscal Year 2024 budget request, we write to respectfully request an allocation of $725 million under the Army Corps of Engineers construction account for South Florida Ecosystem Restoration. The Everglades is a national treasure, one of the true ecological wonders of the world, and further efforts to preserve this unique ecosystem will prove imperative to its long-term viability.

As you know, the Everglades is central to Florida’s economy; its biodiversity is an environmental marvel and is home to one of the world’s largest wetlands. A restored Everglades supports many types of resilience, including economic resilience, ecological resilience, resilience to severe weather events and drought, and a range of resilience impacts for people and communities. A healthy Everglades and appropriate water infrastructure provides storage capacity to prepare for and respond to infusions of significant quantities of water from hurricanes and other severe weather events. Further, intact coastal Everglades ecosystems add protection for the ecology and coastal communities from storm surge events. The Everglades restoration infrastructure provides the ability to manage water effectively and makes Florida’s environment, economy, and communities more resilient to the extreme conditions of drought. In addition, we cannot forget that nine million Floridians rely on the Everglades for their drinking water.

The significance of the Everglades does not go unnoticed for Floridians and our community who have worked together for more than twenty years to restore its cherished wetlands. This continued restoration of America’s Everglades is not only a national, but a global model for large scale ecosystem restoration and infrastructure investment that supports economic vitality, and promotes a wide range of ecological and community resilience benefits. With this in mind, we ask that you join us in building on the many years of upward momentum for a restored Everglades for the people of Florida.

We look forward to unifying our efforts to restore the Everglades as we work to advance vital Everglades restoration projects. Thank you for your consideration of our request for $725 million for Everglades restoration in FY24.”