According to Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), federal spending on things such as bridges is completely unnecessary and is little more than “radical left” stuff that Democrats want to try and include in President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill, which is now being considered by the Senate and is expected to pass as soon as next week on a narrow, party-line vote.
Appearing on “Fox New Sunday,” Scott was asked by host Chris Wallace what he would cut from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 package, to which the senator responded:
“That’s pretty easy. Do we need to pay for bridges? Does that have anything to do with COVID? Do we need to pay for tunnels for Silicon Valley? Does that do anything?”
It has to do with making sure that many decrepit and dangerous bridges are repaired or rebuilt, which is a public safety issue. And the tunnels aren’t just planned for Silicon Valley, though that’s certainly a cute talking point. Infrastructure spending would also create tens of thousands of jobs and be a big boost to the struggling U.S. economy which former President Donald Trump drove into the ditch by refusing to take the COVID virus seriously.
But Scott was far from finished making a fool of himself, adding:
“If we’re focused on COVID, let’s take care of the people who have lost their jobs, help our businesses. Let’s make sure we have plenty of tests and make sure we have plenty of vaccine, get that out quickly.”
Infrastructure spending would help businesses, and would have a ripple effect across the economy that would be good for everyone.
However, according to the Florida Republican, money for infrastructure is nothing but “radical left stuff”:
“Stop wasting money. I want to help people. Republicans want to help people. This is just a radical left-wing agenda that they’re trying to cram through because they think they can tie it to COVID. If they like the tunnels so much in California, do a separate bill and see if it passes… It wouldn’t pass.”
Really? Well if Sen. Scott feels that strongly about the issue, why doesn’t he introduce legislation that would cut all federal highway funds to his state until coronavirus cases plummet, the majority of Americans have been vaccinated, and herd immunity has been reached? Because he wants to be reelected and knows that getting that funding to Florida is essential to his dreams of a second term.
If repairing our crumbling infrastructure and creating jobs is a “radical left” idea, then what would Sen. Scott call the millions he votes to give various industries via pork barrel subsidies?
As usual, Republicans have no solutions to the problems that confront the United States. They just have lies and deflection.
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