Florida Governor and 2024 Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis slammed both political parties over U.S. government spending in an interview this week, saying that both parties are responsible for inflation rates that have harmed consumers in recent years.
DeSantis made the remarks during an interview with Norah O’Donnell on “CBS Evening News” when asked about how he, as president, would bring inflation down.
“Stop spending so much money,” he said. “We need a president that’s going to be a force for spending restraint, because that’s one of the root causes with Congress spending so much. Two, open up domestic energy production. Energy costs are a huge part of inflation.”
When O’Donnell tried to pin out of control spending on Republicans even though DeSantis had not mentioned either political party by this point, DeSantis pointed out that both parties are responsible for the out of country spending, including Republicans under Donald Trump. DeSantis appeared to place the blame largely on Republicans who have promised to cut spending but then increased spending when they got into office.
“On that issue of spending, the issue is that, in fact, Republicans and under Donald Trump, he added $8 trillion to the debt,” O’Donnell said. “And as Nikki Haley pointed out during the debate, Republicans have earmarked more in spending bills than Democrats do. Do Republicans have a spending problem?”
“Yes, of course,” DeSantis said. “This is Republicans and Democrats in D.C. that have done this. This is not just one political party. Republicans talk big when they’re out of power. But when they get in, they don’t put their money where their mouth is. And you know, you’re right. Donald Trump added almost $8 trillion to the debt in four years. He ran saying he was going to eliminate the national debt, maybe over an eight year period, but he did make that promise, and then he did the opposite.”
Earlier this year, DeSantis outlined four federal departments he would eliminate as President, during an interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum.
“We would do Education we would do Commerce, we’d do Energy, and we would do IRS,” DeSantis said in an interview with MacCallum.
“If Congress will work with me on doing that, we’ll be able to reduce the size and scope of government,” he added. “If Congress won’t go that far, I’m going to use those agencies to push back against woke ideology and against the leftism that we see creeping into all institutions of American life.”
Regarding the tax system DeSantis said “I would be welcoming to take this tax system, chuck it out the window and do something that’s more favorable to the average folks.”
