| | | Rick Scott takes a really dumb position, and DeSantis calls him out. How did DeSantis make it through Yale and Harvard and keep his common sense intact?
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday flatly rejected Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott’s call for governors and mayors to return money from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, creating another fault line with his potential 2024 rival.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said DeSantis, when asked about Scott’s suggestion. “If Florida were to send the money back, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is going to send it to Illinois, California, New York or New Jersey. I don’t think that would make sense for Floridians — for us to be giving even more money to the blue states that already getting such a big windfall in this bill.”
DeSantis instead outlined his plans for spending $4 billion of the up to $10 billion that could be coming to the state as part of the “American Rescue Plan." DeSantis has called for using the money on everything from $1,000 payments to law enforcement officer, paramedics and firefighters to boosting spending on tourism marketing and transportation projects.
Scott, who voted against the package, has called the legislation “wasteful” and said that “anyone in state and local government who calls themselves a fiscal conservative should know that the funding in the Democrats’ massive spending bill is not free money. This money belongs to the taxpayers and lawmakers have a responsibility to spend it wisely.” politico.com
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