DeSantis calls out federal ‘spending binge’ by Republicans and Democrats
Jack Birle
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said that both political parties are to blame for excessive spending by the federal government, citing the significant increase in the national debt in recent years
DeSantis said the national debt was one of the examples of how the U.S. is in decline and called out GOP hypocrisy on spending when they are out of power versus when they are in power, while speaking on CNBC’s Last Call on Monday.
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“This idea that it’s all the Democrats, I tell Republican audiences, both parties have done it, both parties have been involved. And actually Republicans are very tough when they’re out of power, but when they get in power, they basically go on a spending binge too. And I think you’ve seen it other the last five or six years, 100% it’s a bipartisan thing,” DeSantis said.
He pointed to the money thrown at the response to the COVID-19 pandemic by Congress during the Trump and Biden administrations, calling the response by the federal government “poor” despite the significant financial expenditure. The Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate also discussed how spending for federal agencies always increases once a new baseline is set, and how it contributes to the national debt.
“But what Congress has done, they’ve basically locked in that level of spending. Once government increases spending, that kind of becomes the new baseline you can’t govern like that. In Florida, we basically do zero-based budgeting. You can head an agency in Florida, maybe you got a billion dollars last year, you’re not entitled to get more than a billion next year. You have to justify what you’re going to do. We don’t do that in Washington so debt does matter,” DeSantis said.
The national debt was $19.5 trillion at the end of fiscal 2016 but has since ballooned to more than $32 trillion dollars in 2023. The significant increase was largely boosted by spending during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but the debt was still growing prior to and after the pandemic.
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In the interview, DeSantis also explained how he wants to cut the footprint of federal agencies in Washington, D.C., by 50% as a way of reducing regulation and bureaucracy.
DeSantis is currently in second place in the Republican primary, per the RealClearPolitics polling average, only behind former President Donald Trump. The Florida governor is one of several candidates participating in the first GOP presidential debate next week in Milwaukee. Trump has not said if he will attend the debate.