Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, criticised the bipartisan debt ceiling compromise on Monday, saying the country was still “careening towards bankruptcy.”
DeSantis, who recently announced his 2024 presidential bid on “Fox & Friends,” criticised the budget deal, saying, “Before this deal, our country was careening towards bankruptcy, and after this deal, our country will still be careening towards bankruptcy.”
In light of the White House and Republican congressional leaders’ late-Saturday deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, DeSantis’s remarks came as the country barely avoided a default just days before the planned June 5 deadline. The onus is now on Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to rally their respective caucuses behind the legislation.
The deal allows nondefense spending to climb by 1% in 2025 while keeping defence spending steady until the 2024 presidential election. Covid-19 relief monies authorised by Congress since 2020 would also be recouped as part of the agreement, totaling billions of dollars.
The pact has been roundly criticised by Republicans, with Representatives Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) respectively dubbing it a “turd sandwich” and “insanity.” Democratic critics of the debt ceiling agreement are being told by the White House that things could have been lot worse.
I think that we’ve gotten ourselves on a trajectory here, really, since March of 2020 with some of the Covid spending and totally reset the budget, and they’re staying with that, and I think that’s just going to be absolutely inadequate to get us in a better spot,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis’ most formidable opponent for the 2024 Republican nomination, former President Donald Trump, has not commented on the agreement as of yet.
