DeSantis rips up McCarthy’s debt deal: Florida governor says US ‘will ALWAYS head for bankruptcy’ with package to raise $4 trillion limit and is proof Washington ‘keeps going’ ‘fail”
- He blasted the deal suspending the debt ceiling until January 2025
- A series of congressional conservatives criticized him
- Read a full breakdown of what’s in and what’s out of the deal HERE
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has joined a group of congressional conservatives tearing up a new deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending for two years – saying it keeps the nation on the path to ‘bankruptcy’ .
DeSantis, who officially announced his campaign for the White House last week, weighed in two days after President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the deal, which would suspend the federal debt limit until in January 2025.
Asked about his assessment, DeSantis told Fox News, “Well, before this deal … our country was heading for bankruptcy. And after this agreement, our country will always sail towards bankruptcy.
“And to say that you can do $4 trillion in raises over the next year and a half, I mean, that’s a huge amount of spending,” he said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the nation is still ‘on the verge of bankruptcy’ after an agreement to suspend the debt ceiling and freeze spending at 2023 levels, with spending expected to rise 1% the next day. Next year.
He was referring to a figure cited by Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz and others that suspending the $31 trillion national debt would result in a $4 trillion increase by that time. .
He also took issue with the spending numbers set by the deal for the next two years – which are already drawing heat for Biden from his own party’s progressive wing.
It would cap spending at 2023 levels — which, given inflation, equates to an effective cut, but falls short of House Republican goals. He noted that current year funding has been increased through an infusion of COVID relief.
“I think we’ve put ourselves on a trajectory here, really since March 2020 with some of the COVID spending, it’s totally reset the budget, and they’re sticking with that. And I think that will just not be enough to put us in a better position.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy must now muster the votes to push the plan through the House. He takes heat from House Tories over the deal
House Progressives challenge President Joe Biden’s negotiated spending freeze
McCarthy said he spoke to former President Donald Trump about the plan last week. Trump was in New York on Monday intending to play a round of golf
DeSantis appeared on Fox News at the start of a week that will take him to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina
Next, DeSantis pointed to Florida, where state law requires the budget to be balanced.
“Look in Florida, we have big budget surpluses. We have a $1.2 trillion economy, but our debt is only $17 billion. – second lowest per capita in the country,” he said. “But we’re making tough choices and making sure we look forward to the long term, obviously in Washington DC they’re doing these cycles to push it through the next election. And that’s ultimately one of the reasons they keep failing.
DeSantis agreed to the deal brokered by McCarthy and his allies days after McCarthy revealed Thursday that he spoke about it with former President Donald Trump amid negotiations.
“I spoke to President Trump the other day and it came up, but just for a second.”
He said Trump told him to “make sure you get a good deal as you go.”
DeSantis, a former House member who trails Trump by up to 30 points in the opinion polls, is casting his spell with a disgruntled House faction that tore up the deal.
Rep. Dan Bishop (RN.C.) wrote on Twitter on Sunday that “the RINOs congratulating McCarthy for getting almost a zippo in exchange for a $4,000 debt cap hike was enough to get you going” — then added a vomiting emoji.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) called it a “debt ceiling discount.”
