Anna Eskamani is a frequent critic of the governor. The demonization of President Joe Biden has always been political.
Governors don't care who is in the White House as long as they get help after a big natural disaster. The eagerness to accept the money comes against the backdrop of not only being one of Biden's biggest critics, but also his past record rejecting federal disaster relief for New York and New Jersey.
Now that he's dealt with the aftermath of his first major storm as governor, there's no need to worry about federal funds. The president approved an emergency declaration for all of Florida, freeing up federal money for counties devastated by Hurricane Ian. The storm dumped rain on the region as it slowly made its way across the state.
During a Thursday briefing at the state's emergency operations center, DeSantis said that he had spoken with the president and that he had offered support. Due to the storm moving inland and causing a lot of damage in the central part of the state, we are going to be asking that those counties be expanded and included.
The declaration was expanded to four Central Florida counties by Biden one day later. The number of countries that will get federal disaster relief funding has increased.
Even though Florida has a $20 billion budget surplus, it has accepted billions of dollars in federal aid to fund high-profile spending items before.
Over the past two years, the state budget has included nearly $10 billion from the Biden administration's federal Coronaviruses State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, money that the governor used to pay for a wide range of non-pandemic related programs. Programs that Biden and other Democrats have criticized are included in those.
The administration said they are focused on the response to the hurricanes.
A spokesman said to give it a rest. We don't have time for politics or pettiness.
A migrant transportation program that would pay private contractors to fly migrants from Florida to Democratic strongholds was funded by interest from that money. The governor has already spent $615,000 on transporting 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
The Job Growth Grant Fund is a pot of economic development cash his administration can use. He put money into a program.
$200 million from the federal coronaviruses funding will be used for a gas tax holiday in October, which the governor frequently trumpets when chiding record inflation. One month before the election, the gas tax holiday begins.
The governor uses federal dollars to give teachers and police $1,000 bonuses, but doesn't mention the connection to the president.
Florida was short-changed by the funding formula because it was the state hardest hit by the Pandemic, according to the candidate.
Billions of dollars in relief for Hurricane Sandy were opposed by the two senators. Democrats say that the opposition shows that Republicans aren't interested in helping blue states.
At the time, he supported a small GOP package for relief.
He missed a vote for Hurricane Harvey relief because he was getting ready for Hurricane Irma.
He said in a statement that he would have voted in favor of the package even though he had reservations. He panned the short-term extension of government funding as an incredibly inefficient way to spend taxpayer dollars.
The Senate appropriators are being asked to approve a Hurricane Ian assistance package.
Democrats often point out the irony in using federal money, but he has a few GOP critics as well. The federal Covid-19 relief funds were returned by Scott after he voted against the legislation. Scott is seen as a potential White House candidate in the future.
It doesn't make sense that Scott would suggest returning the money.
A person contributed to the report.
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