Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., on Sunday derided the coronavirus spending proposed by President-elect Joe Biden, calling it “payback” to blue state New York.
In an interview on “Fox and Friends Sunday,” Scott charged that bailing out “blue states makes no sense.”
"This is just payback," Scott said. "This is just Joe Biden saying 'Oh, [Sen.] Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y] you helped me … Oh, [New York City Mayor] Bill de Blasio, you helped me.'"
“Here's $2 billion out of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] that's supposed to go, it's been allocated by Congress, it's supposed to go for hurricanes and floods and wildfires and other natural disasters,” he continued.
“And what Biden wants to do is give it to de Blasio and give it to [New York Gov. Andrew] Cuomo and say, ‘I know you can't live within your means, but we're just going to give you some money because we like you.’
“I mean, this is wrong,” he railed. “We shouldn't have Florida taxpayers bailing out New York. New York cannot live within its means. I got elected when Cuomo got elected back in 2010. He's never lived within his means and neither does de Blasio. We have given the states over half a trillion dollars for COVID relief. … We should help on COVID relief. I want targeted help for people. But to bail out these blue states makes no sense.
According to comments from A.G. Gancarski on FloridaPolitics.com, “the Sunday morning talking points on the subject perhaps illustrate the near term future for Scott.”
“Now liberated from having to defend the indefensible from the Trump administration, he and other Republican lawmakers will have more latitude to position themselves as responsible stewards of America’s finances in spots like this,” Gancarski wrote.
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