Here in Florida, we know better than anyone that hurricane season is the worst time for Washington’s political games. Yet Democrats are once again showing they are willing to put homes and lives in danger to advance their radical liberal agenda.
On Tuesday, Democrats voted to shut down the federal government because they were fighting for healthcare funding for illegal immigrants. No matter what mainstream media or “fact checkers” are telling you, the truth is that the Democrats are specifically demanding to reimpose a nearly $200 billion burden on taxpayers by repealing six provisions from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act that ended healthcare subsidies to illegal immigrants. Democrats chose illegal healthcare funding policy, pushed by their far-left donors, over funding for our military.
As a result of Democrat demands, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has ground to a halt. That leaves families without the ability to get coverage they will desperately need in the midst of a disaster. FEMA has already warned that starting last Wednesday, it cannot properly administer flood insurance policies because it could lose access to funding needed to pay claims. That means millions of Florida families could be left exposed just as the next storm forms in the Atlantic.
Federal agency website notifications, social media posts blame shutdown on ‘radical left’ Democrats
It gets worse. Even if we don’t have a hurricane bearing down on us, many people can’t get a mortgage without flood insurance. Now every one of those sales is being held up because Democrats are angry we aren’t giving money to illegals.
Republicans have acted responsibly. We passed a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open. Republicans voted to protect flood insurance, Social Security, veterans’ benefits and food assistance for families. Democrats have supported this type of legislation before. In fact, it is the same kind of short-term measure Democrats supported 13 times under Joe Biden.
But now they refuse to back it because it does not include a $1.5 trillion spending spree to appease their far-left donors. The Democrats are shutting down the government for $350 billion that could include extended COVID funding, welfare for criminal aliens, and almost half a billion for radical liberal news outlets. The hypocrisy is glaring. Democrats themselves have claimed shutdowns were “dangerous,” “disastrous,” and “self-inflicted harm” to seniors, veterans, and families. Well, for Florida families it definitely is. Democrats are now holding the safety of our homes hostage during hurricane season to bankroll their partisan donors’ wish list.
Nothing in the Republican-passed clean CR is partisan, yet almost every Democrat voted against it. CRs were acceptable under Biden but now that Republicans are in charge, it looks like Democrats would rather play politics than protect their constituents.
There is a lot of misinformation being pushed by the Democrats surrounding their objection to the bill. Health care programs for Americans remain fully funded at current levels under the Republican plan. Yet Democrats want you to believe they are doing this to protect health care. In reality, Democrats are demanding subsidized health care for illegal immigrants and just voted against a historic $50 billion investment in rural health care passed by Republicans in the Working Families Tax Cut Act. In other words, they want to pay for illegal immigrants but punish rural America.
The same falsehood extends to food assistance. Republicans put forward a measure that ensures programs like WIC, which provide food aid to women, infants, and children, continue uninterrupted. If those programs lapse, it will be because Democrats prioritize giveaways to illegal immigrants and an extension of wasteful COVID-era spending over a funding bill that puts American families first. The Democrats are willing to take food off the tables of mothers and young children to appease their special-interest lobbyists.
What are Democrats demanding before they will vote to reopen the government? Well, Democrats have become the foreign criminal aliens’ number one advocate..They want to spend millions on global LGBTQ+ awareness campaigns (whatever that means). They want billions for climate and DEI projects overseas. Democrats want hundreds of millions to prop up liberal propaganda outlets like NPR and PBS. They want subsidized health care for illegal immigrants who are causing our hospitals to overflow while we foot the bill.
As I see it, the Democrats are more worried about the demands of their donors than the needs of Floridians. And Floridians are my top priority. Floridians deserve peace of mind, not political theater. You deserve confidence that your government will stand with you in times of crisis, not abandon you to score political points. While Republicans put Americans first, Democrats have made it clear that you will always come second to illegal aliens and liberal pet projects.
I and the entire Republican party will continue to fight to make sure residents of Florida’s Sixth Congressional District are never left behind by petty politics in Washington.
Fine, a Brevard County Republican, was elected in April to Florida to represent U.S. House District 6, which reaches from St. Augustine Beach to South Daytona and includes Ocala and Sanford.
