DeSantis doles out millions but fails to mention it comes from President Biden
For months, Ron DeSantis has been holding self-serving ceremonies and claiming credit for funding that comes from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These funds have been used for everything from providing bonuses for teachers and police officers to expanding broadband internet and supporting small businesses.
However, like fellow Florida Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis was a vocal opponent of President Biden’s economic agenda and the help it is delivering to working Floridians, labeling it “Washington at its worst.”
Read More: Orlando Sentinel: DeSantis doles out millions but fails to mention it mostly comes from Uncle Sam
Key Points:
- Gov. Ron DeSantis has been on a spending spree for months, taking credit for millions of dollars in federal stimulus money he’s handing out to mostly rural Republican counties while at the same time bashing President Biden’s big government spending.
- “I think it’s hypocritical,” said Ben Wilcox, research director for Tallahassee-based government watchdog group Integrity Florida. “He’s taking credit for something that’s not really his to claim credit for.”
- DeSantis never mentions the largesse he is sharing comes from Washington. Instead, he attributes the money to Florida’s strong economy as he hands out oversized checks at campaign-style events, calling himself “DeSantis Claus” on at least one occasion.
- While presenting checks to officials in Levy and Gilchrist counties recently, DeSantis touted a $400 million rural broadband access program in the 2022-23 state budget that he hasn’t approved yet. He didn’t mention the money came from Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that DeSantis and most other Republicans have criticized.
- Biden, noting that not a single Republican in Washington voted for the president’s rescue plan, said several weeks ago, “I’m not going to embarrass any one of them, but I have here a list of how, back in their districts, they’re bragging about the Rescue Plan ... I mean, some people have no shame.”
- The federal stimulus funds also are financing the job growth and other checks DeSantis is handing out, as well as the $200 million gas tax holiday planned for October.
- DeSantis has given out $77 million in job growth grants since August that came from the American Rescue Plan, along with the $500 million Resilient Florida Trust Fund meant to fight climate change. Even $1,000 first responder bonuses are being covered by federal stimulus money.
- Florida Democratic Party spokesman Travis Reuther said DeSantis is using federal stimulus money to polish his own political image. “Once again, phony Ron DeSantis will do anything to further his political ambitions, even if it means taking credit for the results of legislation that he called “Washington at its worst,” Reuther said.
- Using other people’s money and taking credit for it is classic DeSantis, Stipanovich added. His case in point: The broadband announcement, made days after Biden announced a deal he made with several Internet companies to provide low-cost, high-speed Internet access to lower income families. “He did that to run to the head of the parade on broadband and digital expansion … after being critical of it,” Stipanovich said. “And DeSantis is the epitome of hypocrisy on issues like distribution of federal funds, the appropriation of which he criticizes and then touts.”
- One political strategist said it’s part of a plan to shore up DeSantis’ base and win bigger this time compared with his razor-thin 33,000-vote victory in the 2018 governor’s race, thus boosting his profile for a possible run for the presidency in 2024.
- The appearances, almost always in DeSantis-friendly territory, “are borderline campaign events,” Wilcox said. He often spends the first 15 or 20 minutes delivering a stump speech sharing his views on inflation, gas prices, the culture wars, COVID lock downs, Elon Musk’s proposed acquisition of Twitter and China. Those topics seem geared more toward a national audience than a local one, Stipanovich said. Despite being billed as press conferences, he seldom takes questions from reporters who attend.
- “He’s campaigning all the time, two campaigns simultaneously, reelection and the presidential race of 2024,” Stipanovich said… DeSantis is going to have to do better than that to be seen as a serious candidate for president, Stipanovich said. “He needs to crush it in Florida to enhance his status as a national candidate. If he wins by a percentage point, that is not going to cut it,” Stipanovich said.
Florida Democratic Party 5/18/22
Photo credit: Ernest Peters The Ledger