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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAs Florida Sen. Rick Scott searches for GOP lifeline on relief plan, DeSantis throws him a brick
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/17/2021510/-As-Florida-Sen-Rick-Scott-searches-for-a-GOP-lifeline-on-relief-plan-DeSantis-throws-him-a-brickAs Florida Sen. Rick Scott searches for GOP lifeline on relief plan, DeSantis throws him a brick
Kerry Eleveld
Daily Kos Staff
Wednesday March 17, 2021 · 4:16 PM EDT
After utterly failing to mount an opposition campaign to President Biden's American Rescue Plan, Sen. Rick Scott of Floridathe man running the GOPs Senate campaign armis begging Republican governors to return the stimulus funding included in the bill.
The response from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis? Surely, you jest.
The tension between Scott, who is chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and DeSantis is emblematic of a bigger disconnect between Washington Republicans and state GOP executives and mayors, many of whom have welcomed the federal assistance. On top of that, there's no love lost between DeSantis and Scott, who both appear to have designs on running for president in 2024.
President Biden's rescue plan included some $360 billion to help states and cities address the ongoing the pandemic. Immediately following final passage of the bill, Scott issued an open letter to governors and mayors, calling on them to return what he called massive, wasteful and non-targeted" money.
But DeSantis already has big plans for the roughly $10 billion that could flow to his state through the trillion-dollar federal relief package. At a press conference last week, DeSantis said the money could be a "game changer" for his effort to address the dangers of flooding and sea level rise. Its infrastructure we would have needed to have done anyways, he noted. Since then, DeSantis has also mentioned making one-time payments to first responders and boosting tourism marketing.
DeSantis even took his opposition to Scott's call a step further when he effectively blamed him and the state's other U.S. senatorMarco Rubiofor not claiming more of the federal dollars for Sunshine State residents. The Senate didnt correct the fact that Florida is getting a lot less than what we would be entitled to on a per capita basis, DeSantis added, according to The Palm Beach Post.
Clearly, whatever angle Senate Republicans think could help them in 2022, DeSantis thinks it's a political loser in his his state, where Rubio will be fighting for reelection next year.
Scott's office apparently declined to give Politico a response regarding the snub from DeSantis.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)paleotn
(17,989 posts)Well, that is fitting, seeing as blue states on average SEND more money to DC than they receive in benefits.
50 Shades Of Blue
(10,052 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)The Medicare expansion was originally automatic, but Republicans successfully argued to the Supreme Court that giving the states FREE MONEY to take care of their own citizens was an unconstitutional violation of states' rights. So Medicare expansion became an opt-in part of the ACA.
No problem, you might think. What states are going to turn down FREE MONEY to offer access to health care to their citizens? Healthier citizens mean lower health care costs, and access to health care is the cornerstone of a healthier populace. Money is going to be spent on health care anyway, why not spend it where it will do the most good, before people get serious sick? Everyone will take the FREE MONEY and the Supreme Court can stick that spurious ruling where the sun don't shine.
But we hadn't reckoned on the heartlessness of Republicans. Lots of states controlled by Republicans turned down the FREE MONEY, and watched their citizens get sicker, spent more money on health care, and spent a lot more money on acute treatment that could have been better spent catching sickness earlier when it's cheaper to treat. Since that time, some states that originally turned down the FREE MONEY have decided to take it after all. And in spite of all that extra illness and death, the citizens of those states continue to elect and re-elect the imbeciles that governed them so badly in the last decade.
Who would turn down FREE MONEY from the American Rescue Plan? I give you Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.
Cha
(297,705 posts)FM123
(10,054 posts)I thought Sick Scott was the worst governor we ever had, then came Ron DeathSentence.