Recently, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) sent a letter to Senate leadership urging that funding for Israel “not be leveraged for more Ukraine funding.” However, it appears no action was taken. Now, Sen. Scott is calling on his colleagues to vote on the issues separately. This statement comes after President Joe Biden (D) proposed a spending package for both of the countries together, costing over $106 billion, as well as a “deeply flawed and reckless spending proposal” that would “exacerbate the raging border crisis that the president’s failed policies have created.”
The Florida senator said, “Everyone in Washington knows that what the president has proposed will never pass in the House.”
“It has been 17 days since Iran-backed Hamas terrorists launched their savagely brutal attack on Israel, killing more than 1,400 innocent people, including at least 33 Americans, and took Americans and hundreds of others hostage in Gaza. The Senate needs to vote on aid for Israel now – by itself,” said Sen. Scott. “Everyone in Washington knows that what the president has proposed will never pass in the House. It is unserious and needs to be discarded and moved on from. Americans should be disgusted that President Biden and Washington’s ruling class continue to use crisis after crisis to push massive spending packages for issues that have no business being voted on together.”
He would go on to mention, “There is overwhelming bipartisan support for Israel and we can get an aid package passed in the Senate quickly. The same cannot be said about Biden’s asks on Ukraine aid, which is far broader than just lethal aid to defeat Putin, or his horrific idea to give billions to bail out sanctuary cities and push policies that actually make the raging national security crisis on the border even worse.”
Sen. Scott ended his statement by declaring that hesitation on the Israel issue “only hurts the United States and our ally Israel.”
“Needlessly delaying this action in search of some doomed grand bargain only hurts the United States, our ally Israel and the urgent mission to rescue the Americans being held hostage in Gaza by Iran-backed Hamas,” concluded Scott.
This is not the first time that the President has tried to couple Ukraine funding with other tragic events.
As Hurricane Idalia was fast approaching the Gulf Coast of Florida, CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned the Biden administration’s decision to couple emergency funding for the recent natural disasters with funding for the Ukraine war effort.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Tapper that “I don’t want to get into hypotheticals,” and that “The President put forward what he thinks is incredibly important that we need.”
Sen. Scott responded, saying that the effects felt by Hurricane Idalia are not “hypothetical.”
Floridians are facing once-in-a-lifetime devastation & destruction from #Idalia. This isn’t a “hypothetical.” It’s Florida families’ livelihoods, and my Federal Disaster Responsibility Act makes sure the federal government shows up.
Stop playing politics. Floridians can’t wait. pic.twitter.com/4xz4hqbh5V
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) August 30, 2023
“Floridians are facing a once-in-a-lifetime devastation & destruction from Idalia. This isn’t a ‘hypothetical.’ It’s Florida families’ livelihoods, and my Federal Disaster Responsibility Act makes sure the federal government shows up. Stop playing politics. Floridians can’t wait,” stated Sen. Scott.
This is a developing story.
