From the U.S. Department of State:

This information is current as of today, Fri. Jan 15, 2010.

For missing U.S. citizen family members, call 1-888-407-4747 or provide information via email. To help, text "HAITI" to "90999" and $10 will be sent the Red Cross , charged to your cell phone bill.

In Haiti, calls regarding the welfare of U.S. citizens can be made to the Embassy’s Consular Task Force in Port-au-Prince at 509-2229-8942, 509-2229-8089, 509-2229-8322 or 509-2229-8672.

The Department of State has received a high volume of calls concerning the welfare of U.S. citizens in Haiti. To handle these requests most efficiently, the Department has established an e-mail address for people who are trying to contact their U.S. citizen friends and relatives in Haiti.  Please send your inquiries to:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and include the following information:

• The full name, date of birth and passport information (if known) of the persons in Haiti you are trying to contact.
• Their contact information in Haiti;  telephone numbers, email address, hotel name or address (if known)
• Your name and contact information, and your relationship to the person in Haiti (parent, spouse, friend etc.)
• Any special or emergency circumstances.

Our task force will work with our Embassy staff in Haiti to locate and, if needed, provide assistance. We will respond to each message as soon as possible.  If you hear from the person you are concerned about, please be sure to send us an email providing the new information about their location or condition.

Please read our Travel Warning on Haiti about the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

Private Offers of Assistance for Haiti Relief Efforts

U.S. citizens who wish to contribute to the relief effort for Haiti after the earthquake, either online or by text message, can visit the White House web site.  Additionally, persons who wish to provide assistance or expertise in Haiti are asked to contact the Center for International Disaster Information.  The Center, operated under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, has established a dedicated page to coordinate Haiti support.

Read the warning from the FBI on Haitian Earthquake Relief Fraud and Scams.

More here: http://www.state.gov/

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, is headed this week to Guantanamo Bay as part of a congressional visit to examine the detention facilities and security management. Bilirakis is a member of the Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee and has opposed closing GITMO, as the president wants to do.

 
In February of 2009, Gus was named the Ranking Member or top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight.

On Tuesday, the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2278 which would label certain Middle Eastern satellite providers of incendiary television programming as terrorist organizations, in an effort to prevent radical anti-Americanism from hitting the airwaves.

FOX News has more:

Satellite operators who provide service to Middle Eastern channels which knowingly allow anti-American incitement on their airwaves better watch out. A new bill which targets Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist run television stations was overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week.

Authored by Florida Republican Congressman Gus Bilirakis, the bill seeks to designate satellite operators who provide service to stations with terrorist links and make them "Specially Designated Global Terrorists". It also calls on the President to annually report to Congress on anti-U.S. incitement to violence in the region and create a list of nations where such anti-American incitement to violence exists.

Rep. Bilirakis, who was joined by fellow Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and New York Democrat Joseph Crowley as co-sponsors of the bill, told fellow legislators that "Instead of denouncing such incitement, many countries in the region effectively provide financial, material or technological support to the purveyors of incitement."

During a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing regarding Afghnistan strategy today, Gus questioned General Stanley McChrystal about the need for the United States to capture Osama Bin Laden.

On Tuesday night, President Obama set forth a new course for United States engagement in Afghanistan. After the speech, Gus had the following reaction:

"Providing our military with additional troops and resources is critical to our long-term national security and will help achieve the goal of denying the Taliban and Al-Qaeda a staging ground for future attacks. My hope is that the extra forces will be utilized in a manner consistent with the strategy outlined by General McChrystal earlier this year. In addition, it is imperative that the Afghan people have confidence in both their new government and American resolve to stabilize the region.

“While the Administration must set clear benchmarks for the Afghan government to speed up the training of their own forces, we absolutely should not commit ourselves to artificial time lines which have our brave men and women departing Afghanistan independent of the realities on the ground."

On Tuesday night hundreds of students and parents took part in Gus's first Financial Aid Forum and College Fair at Strawberry Crest High School in Dover.

The event offered one-stop shopping for students and parents, providing them with the opportunity to learn more about available financial aid resources, as well as speak with school representatives face-to-face.

The forum included a presentation from financial aid experts at the Sallie Mae Fund, while representatives from the University of South Florida, University of Tampa, University of Central Florida, University of Florida and Hillsborough Community College were apart of the fair portion of the event.

Gus attended the opening of the new Plant City Advance Traffic Management System on Tuesday afternoon. The enhancements will allow the city to monitor traffic and adjust signal timings proactively when there is major congestion, a special event or an evacuation.

"This state of the art traffic system is a great advancement for the city and will provide citizens with safe and efficient travel throughout the area," Bilirakis said at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Tonight Gus spoke out against the Democratic health care plan during general debate of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act :

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the upcoming United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark next month.

The Wall Street Journal has more:

Mr. Stern encountered tough questioning from Republicans, some of whom challenged the idea that the earth is warming. Others expressed fear that the administration will commit the U.S. to an economically ruinous schedule of emissions reductions.

“The longer we wait, the worse it gets,” Mr. Stern told the panel. “At some point, people are going to recognize there’s too much carbon in the atmosphere.”

Mr. Stern was testifying a day after Senate Republicans largely boycotted a meeting of a Senate panel weighing a proposal to cut U.S. emissions roughly 20 percent beneath 2005 levels by 2020. The Republicans complained that the bill’s potential impact on the economy had not been sufficiently vetted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Echoing similar concerns, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R., Fla.), told Mr. Stern “the last thing we need coming out of Copenhagen is an energy tax.” Mr. Bilirakis said he feared the Obama administration will commit the U.S. to a deal that “will severely disadvantage American business and shift jobs abroad” to countries such as China and India that don’t cap emissions.

Gus continued:

"We most certainly should not agree to live by the terms and conditions of any international treaty or legislative body other than that of the U.S. Congress; especially when ceding our sovereignty in this area would devastate our economy and increase unemployment."

 Back in June Gus voted against the House "Cap & Trade" plan:

"As Floridians face double digit unemployment for the first time in 34 years, the last thing we need is an energy tax that will drive energy costs through the roof for families and hamstring small businesses who are trying to survive and create jobs. This deeply flawed bill will severely disadvantage American businesses and shift jobs to other nations like China and India who do not cap emissions. We must balance the need to protect our environment with the need for economic growth and job creation. Unfortunately this bill fails to effectively strike that balance and will do more harm than good.

“Congress should instead increase domestic energy production, promote energy efficiency, and encourage private investment in renewable energy technologies as part of a comprehensive plan to address our energy needs.”
 

UPDATE: Nonpartisan Congressional Scorekeeper: GOP Plan Lowers Premiums By Up to 10 Percent.

Today the House Republicans released their plan for reforming health care, which doesn’t raise taxes or cut Medicare like the Pelosi plan.

The Republican plan moves away from more government bureaucracy and instead builds upon our current system while lowering costs, preserving the quality of care and keeping individuals in charge of their own health care decisions.

Download the GOP Plan (.PDF Format).

The GOP plan incorporates many of the ideas Gus has advocated for months including lowering health insurance costs through tort reform, and strengthening association health plans so employers can join together to provide affordable health coverage. It also allows individuals to purchase health insurance on their own, or through their civic clubs, church or fraternal organizations, across state lines, so they have access to less costly policies.

The St. Pete Times has more:

With debate winding down in the U.S. House, the GOP today offered its own health care plan (summary here ) that focuses on reducing costs rather than extending coverage to most Americans.

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, lauded it as a "common sense approach" and asserted that focusing on lowering premiums would make coverage more accessible. He touted an emphasis on tort reform, or what the GOP calls "junk lawsuits," and said the plan left Medicare Advantage funding untouched and does not impose new taxes. "These are consensus issues," he said.