WASHINGTON - If this is August, it must be time to visit China, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel or Vietnam.

South Florida members of Congress are traveling to these and other corners of the world this month to visit soldiers, talk about trade, foster ties to their home region and ...

... generally take a firsthand look at President Bush's policies abroad.

The South Florida globe-trotters are taking advantage of the August congressional recess to assert their region's big stake in trade and foreign affairs. Their travels to far-flung war zones also reflect increasing congressional oversight of the U.S. missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Because Florida is the "Gateway to the Americas" and a cosmopolitan region with one of the largest Jewish populations in the world, foreign affairs long has been a local concern, making travel abroad a necessity for members of Congress.

"The constituency we have is literally from all over the world," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, who may visit Haiti this month and plans to go to Slovenia for an international gathering in the fall. "You have the Cuban constituency, the Jewish constituency. There's the Haitians, Jamaicans, Bahamians. Then you have the extraordinary influx of people from Latin America."

"Knowledge is power," said Hastings, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. "When I visit Israel and discuss the role played by Iraq, Iran and Syria, that becomes something my local constituents are directly concerned about."

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, one of the most traveled members of Congress, is in China this week exhorting top officials to ensure the safety of food and other exports, help resolve the crisis in the Sudan and reduce air pollution to address climate change.

"Food safety and product safety affects every one of my constituents," Wexler said in a telephone interview from Nanjing. "Likewise, the issue of global change has a particularly onerous effect in South Florida, which is poised to incur a disproportionate amount of damage if global climate change is not reversed."

Wexler, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Europe, this year has traveled to France and Germany and accompanied Gov. Charlie Crist on a trade mission to Israel.

"The district I represent has a larger Jewish population than any other in the country," Wexler said. "Being a familiar face in Israel, which I am, is very important."

Freshman Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, plans to visit top Israeli and Palestinian leaders to gain a better understanding of the peace process. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, wants to tour Haiti to learn more about conditions that prompt many of its people to flee toward Florida.

Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, R-Miami, will take a first-hand look at attempts to control the opium crop in Afghanistan, while Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, will lead a separate congressional trip to Iraq as well as Afghanistan.

Congressional travel is often clouded by controversy, especially when paid for by lobbyists. Most trips by Florida members this month are official congressional travel - covered by the government - to places not known as popular tourist destinations, observed Jim Morris, project manager at the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group that tracks congressional travel.

"There's a big difference between a trip to Iraq and one to Maui," Morris said. "No doubt there are legitimate, educational fact-finding trips. Then there are other trips abroad to Mexican beach resorts, where there appears to be not much work, mainly socializing, going to the beach and playing golf."

Those who travel frequently say congressional work trips are revealing, informative and exhausting.

"The hours are long," Hastings said. "Sometimes I have lived in very nice hotels, and I've been in other places that should not even be called hotels."

Except for the golfing and gambling junkets, congressional trips can help Americans overcome misperceptions of other nations, said Ambler Moss, former ambassador to Panama and now professor of international studies at the University of Miami.

"They come back far better prepared to make reasonable judgments about foreign policy when they've seen conditions on the ground," Moss said. "Particularly today, in the Middle East or even in a place like Haiti, getting firsthand experience is unbeatable."

In recent decades, Floridians in Congress have played a significant role in foreign policy, often through the Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence committees.

As chairman of the Intelligence Committee, then-Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., shook up the Senate in 2002 and foreshadowed what eventually became the mainstream Democratic position when he called the invasion of Iraq a distraction from the war on terrorism.

Floridians in Congress for many years have formed the tough U.S. policy on Cuba, influenced decisions to intervene in Haiti and encouraged trade ties with Caribbean nations and Central America. Wexler and other South Floridians have been at the forefront of debates on the Middle East.

"Congress has an essential role in foreign policy. It declares war, determines the foreign-policy budget and shapes the agenda," Wexler said. "To successfully complete our constitutional assignment, Congress must go out into the world, meet with foreign leaders and educate itself."

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