Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida expressed his dissatisfaction with the recent debt-ceiling budget deal reached between Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden.
Chip Roy, DeSantis Voice Dissent Over Spending Agreement
Despite numerous Republicans celebrating the agreement as a victory, prominent conservative Rep. Chip Roy from Texas denounced the deal as a “turd sandwich.”
While DeSantis refrained from such crude language, he made his disapproval known in a Fox News interview on Monday, stating the deal did little to alter Washington’s propensity for hefty spending.
Our country is careening toward bankruptcy, and after this debt ceiling "deal" it will still be careening toward bankruptcy. The deal green lights $4 trillion in new debt over the next year and a half, locks in inflated levels of spending from COVID, and keeps 98% of the Biden… pic.twitter.com/UAED0GWVVA
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 29, 2023
“Before this deal, our country was hurtling towards bankruptcy. After this deal, our country will still be hurtling towards bankruptcy,” DeSantis stated.
He further criticized the planned $4 trillion increase in spending in the next year and a half, calling it an enormous amount of expenditure.
He continued, “I believe we have set ourselves on a path — starting from March of 2020 with some of the COVID-related expenditures — to thoroughly overhaul the budget, and they’re persisting with that. I think that’s going to be absolutely insufficient to place us in a superior position.”
DeSantis Criticizes Washington’s Short-Term Approach, Lack of Long-Term Planning
DeSantis then pointed to Florida’s solid state budget policies, which allowed it to handle a $1.2 trillion economy with only $17 billion in debt, the second-lowest total in the nation on a per-capita basis.
“We take difficult decisions, and we strategize for the long run,” DeSantis continued.
“In the capital, Washington, D.C., they function in patterns that are geared towards the forthcoming election. That’s ultimately one of the key reasons for their persistent failure.”
As per The Hill, Roy, a supporter of DeSantis, criticized the McCarthy-Biden deal for freezing spending for two years without implementing any cuts and for failing to commit to such cuts once the deal concludes.
KEVIN MCCARTHY on the debt ceiling: When Trump had majorities in the House and Senate, we “didn’t cut anything…just added more money.” pic.twitter.com/pDxOZ3cKbW
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) May 30, 2023
Moreover, the agreement did not eliminate clean energy tax benefits that Republicans wanted to abolish. It didn’t include work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries and it did nothing to address border security.
This article appeared in Right Wing Insider and has been published here with permission.
