Senator Rick Scott speaks during a press conference at the Capitol. | Alex Wong / Getty Images
TALLAHASSEE – Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday flatly rejected Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott’s call for governors and mayors to return money from the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, creating another line of support. fracture with its potential rival of 2024.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said DeSantis, when asked about Scott’s suggestion. “If Florida sent the money back, [Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen will ship it to Illinois, California, New York or New Jersey. I don’t think it would make sense for floridenses – for us to be giving even more money to the blue states that are already receiving such a huge income in this account. “
DeSantis on Tuesday, instead, outlined his plans to spend $ 4 billion of the up to $ 10 billion that could be arriving in the state as part of the “American Rescue Plan”. DeSantis called for the use of money on everything from $ 1,000 payments to police, paramedics and firefighters to increase spending on tourism marketing and transportation projects.
Scott, who voted against the package, called the legislation “wasteful” and on Monday said that “anyone in the state and local government who calls himself a fiscal conservative should know that funding for the Democrats’ huge spending bill it is not free money. This money belongs to taxpayers and legislators have a responsibility to spend it wisely ”.
Scott accused local and state governments of treating the aid package as a “secret fund” and asked them to send back any money that was not spent directly on Covid-related expenses back to Washington.
DeSantis and Scott, both seen as potential candidates for the presidency in 2024, have had a difficult relationship since DeSantis took office. DeSantis last year authorized an investigation into Florida’s troubled $ 77 million Portal of the unemployment website that was created when Scott served as governor of the state. The site crashed several times during the pandemic and the chief inspector general of the state blamed the companies that built the portal and the Scott administration.
Scott, a billionaire former health care executive who took office as the governor of Florida in 2010 as part of the tea wave, has a long history of complaining about government spending and debt. He canceled a famous Florida high-speed train project and returned $ 2.4 billion in federal assistance for the program.
Scott’s office declined to comment on DeSantis’ refusal to return the stimulus money, pointing instead to earlier statements made by Scott.
Scott, last July, also asked governors to detail how they were spending billions of dollars in congestion-approved coronavirus aid funds under the CARES Act. The DeSantis government rejected his request.
When in Congress, DeSantis was seen as a fiscal hawk who repeatedly complained about overspending. But he has been counting on federal assistance to balance Florida’s budget amid the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Last month, DeSantis repeatedly complained that Florida was not getting its fair share of the bailout package because money was being allocated to states based on their unemployment rate, not by the population.