DeSantis: House Republicans are ‘selling out’ their campaign promises with latest budget

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis lambasted D.C. House Republicans for agreeing to a budget deal with Senate Democrats this week, saying they are “selling out everything they ran on in 2022.”

“They promised to change the way Washington operates. They said that they were going to hold these agencies accountable,” DeSantis said. “Instead, they’re funding the status quo into perpetuity over fear of a ‘government shutdown.’”

“We need a President who will use the bully pulpit, lay a marker down, and stand strong to deliver results for our voters,” he said. “I will do that — just like I’ve done as governor.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the deal for a $1.7 trillion budget. The government would shut down later in January if an agreement isn’t met.

The budget keeps roughly the same non-defense spending while increasing defense expenditures by nearly 3%.

“Why would you want to just green light the current order things, given how bad all this is?” DeSantis said. “This has been standard practice, I think, for Republicans, for a long time. What what you really just need is leadership.”

The governor swung at former President Donald Trump for signing his own “massive” spending bills during his four-year terms.

“I work well with the Florida Legislature,” he said. “We had an issue on congressional redistricting. I said, ‘look, I’m gonna veto this. I don’t this is not going to work for me.'”

“They went ahead and passed it, I vetoed it. They had to go back and special session and fix it,” the governor said, referring to his redistricting map that handed Republicans multiple seats in Congress in 2022. “You just got to be willing to use your leverage and use your constitutional authority.”