Mario Diaz-Balart

Díaz-Balart has consistently championed maximum pressure on Cuba throughout 2025–2026. In February 2026, he joined Reps. Giménez and Salazar in sending a joint letter to Treasury (OFAC) and Commerce (BIS) demanding revocation of licenses granted to U.S. companies operating with the Cuban dictatorship, citing violations of the LIBERTAD Act of 1996. The Trump administration imposed over 240 new sanctions against the Cuban regime between January 2025 and early 2026, aligned with Díaz-Balart's longstanding advocacy. In July 2025, the administration sanctioned Cuban military and security ministers for their role in post-July 11th crackdowns. In March 2026, the Trump administration allowed a Russian oil tanker into Cuban waters during a humanitarian crisis, which Díaz-Balart publicly defended, stating 'there is no reversal' and that decisions are being made on a case-by-case basis. By April 2026, Cuba engaged in diplomatic talks with the U.S. and released over 2,000 prisoners, suggesting movement — though not the democratic transition Díaz-Balart has demanded. The promise to apply maximum pressure is actively being pursued and producing measurable regime stress, but the stated goal of democratic change in Cuba has not been achieved, and some policy actions (like the oil tanker allowance) represent complications to a clean maximum pressure narrative.

Díaz-Balart introduced the Luke and Alex School Safety Act in both the 116th and 117th Congresses, naming it after Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, two of the seventeen victims of the February 14, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. After the standalone bill did not advance, its provisions were included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (S. 2938, P.L. 117-159), signed into law on June 25, 2022. The law codified a Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Evidence-based Practices within the Department of Homeland Security, providing schools, families, law enforcement agencies, health professionals, and the public with centralized access to evidence-based school safety best practices, resources, and grant information. The clearinghouse is operational at SchoolSafety.gov. Díaz-Balart's promise to create a national school safety resource hub is fully delivered.

As Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Everglades Caucus and Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Díaz-Balart secured $461 million for Everglades restoration in the FY2026 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, first approved by the House Appropriations Committee on July 17, 2025, passed by the full House in September 2025, and enacted as part of P.L. 119-74. The Congressional Research Service confirmed the $461 million figure exceeded the $446 million presidential budget request — the largest single-year presidential request for Everglades restoration in U.S. history. Funds were directed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) construction projects, with accompanying report language to accelerate construction timelines and improve transparency. Díaz-Balart also applauded Governor DeSantis and the Trump administration for a 2025 agreement to accelerate completion of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir by five years, from 2034 to 2029. In May 2026, Díaz-Balart secured an additional $446 million in the committee-passed FY2027 Energy and Water bill, demonstrating sustained annual commitment. However, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan remains a decades-long, multi-billion dollar effort — no single year of appropriations constitutes full delivery of the promise to fully fund restoration.

Díaz-Balart is confirmed as an original Republican cosponsor of the DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025 (H.R. 4393), introduced July 15, 2025 by Reps. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX). The bill — described as the first serious bipartisan immigration solution proposed by Congress in decades — addresses border security, asylum reform, legal status for certain undocumented immigrants through a seven-year 'Dignity Program,' and visa reform. As of May 2026, the bill has 39 cosponsors (20 Republicans, 19 Democrats) and has been referred to multiple House committees including Judiciary and Homeland Security, but House Republican leadership has not scheduled the bill for a floor vote. Díaz-Balart's decades-long advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform is documented, but the bipartisan compromise remains stalled in the Republican-led House.

Díaz-Balart voted in favor of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed the House 215-214 on May 22, 2025 and — after Senate amendment and a second House concurrence vote of 218-214 on July 3, 2025 — was signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025, as Public Law 119-21. The law permanently extends the individual tax rate reductions and expanded standard deduction enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which had been set to expire December 31, 2025. As House Appropriations Vice Chairman, Díaz-Balart played a direct role in the committee process that advanced the legislation. He stated the bill would 'avoid the largest tax hikes to American families and small businesses in U.S. history' and projected that without action, the average FL-26 taxpayer would have faced a 24% tax increase. The promise to make the TCJA permanent is fully delivered.