Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he is tired of his party giving in to Democrat approaches to managing the debt ceiling, urging Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) not to strike a last-minute compromise agreement with President Joe Biden.
“[I am] tired of caving,” Scott told The Hill in an interview at his U.S. Capitol office. “I’m not going to back down,” he said.
His remarks came after McConnell removed him from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology.
Senate Republicans re-elected McConnell as the leading Republican senator on Nov. 16, 2022, defeating Scott. The tally was 37-10.
Observers interpret McConnell’s decision to remove Scott from the Commerce Committee as a reaction to the November leadership election. Scott also rejected the $1.7 trillion end-of-year spending bill, as opposed to McConnell, who supported it.
However, according to The Hill, McConnell said in 2021 that he made a deal with Schumer to let Democrats raise the debt ceiling with votes from their conference because he wanted them to take full responsibility for increasing borrowing authorization.
But from Scott’s view, he told The Hill, “I took an amendment vote [in] April to the conference, we adopted it and then … the leader caved.”
The Epoch Times has contacted McConnell for comment.
McConnell has also removed Lee from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology.
Scott and the GOP Senators who signed the letter want to show McConnell that they do not want him to negotiate any arrangement that would give Democrats the ability to approve a clean debt-limit increase.
“You saw [in 2021] he came out and said in July that we would not participate in raising the debt ceiling and then … he organized 11 people to say we'll allow the Democrats to do it on [their] own. We didn’t follow conference rules. I’m tired of caving,” Scott told The Hill.
McConnell, Senate GOP Whip John Thune (D-S.D.), and Sen. John Cornyn (D-Texas) did not sign the letter.
House Negotiations are Key: McConnell
McConnell doubts any Senate debt-limit agreement will pass the House; thus, he leaves it to Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to find common ground to the spending legislation.“We’re all behind Kevin and wishing him well in the negotiation,” McConnell told reporters last week.
“I trust Democrats will be consistent with their past positions, and the White House will waste no time beginning the customary bipartisan negotiations with the new Republican majority in the House,” he said.
However, he declined to indicate which areas Republicans aim to cut spending in or when they would unveil their plan.
McCarthy said public negotiations with the president would be ineffective. He said Republicans will eliminate unnecessary spending, and not Medicare or Social Security.
President Biden will reveal his proposed budget on March 9.