US Senator Rick Scott’ Week in Review 03/16/24
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Dear Fellow Floridian, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, you name it…every time you turn on the news, we’re seeing the consequences of President Biden’s weak appeasement policies and total abandonment of the people of Latin America. Unfortunately, it’s not just chaos beyond our shores; there is violence and loss here at home, too. Thanks to Biden’s open border policies and appeasement, we’re experiencing tragedy at our own front door. Just this week, we saw yet another monstrous attack as a woman was at the park in Palm Beach County and allegedly attacked by illegal aliens. In the Panhandle, an illegal alien was arrested last month after his reckless driving caused a fatal crash in Escambia County that took the life of a 21-year-old motorcyclist. Of course, we all know about the murder of young nursing student, Laken Riley, who was brutally killed while on for a run. The illegal alien charged with her murder already had multiple encounters with law enforcement in other sanctuary cities but was never deported. This week, I joined my colleagues on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to demand answers about this monster from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. I also was proud to cosponsor the Laken Riley Act and called on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass it immediately. These illegal aliens are in our communities because President Biden not only allows them to pour across our border but then get on a commercial flight with no ID. That is unacceptable. That’s why I led the Senate in demanding Secretary Mayorkas give us answers as to why this is being permitted in our country. Florida families are sick and tired of watching President Biden create a magnet for illegal immigration here, appease evil regimes, and then force the American people to pay for the unrest, humanitarian crises and mass border crossings. We won’t stand by and let President Biden use our tax dollars to hand out cash, phones, lawyers and everything else to the millions of illegal aliens he’s letting into our country. The bottom line is this: the mass migration into the United States must end. Floridians are compassionate, and our hearts break when we see tragedies like what is happening in Haiti. While there are plenty of good ways for hardworking folks to help people in need, and my office stands ready to assist Floridians with family in Haiti, we will not tolerate the Biden administration allowing thousands of unvetted people to flood into our state and country. It’s not safe, and I will fight with every tool at my disposal to make sure it doesn’t happen. Sincerely,
Rick Scott United States Senator Florida is home to so many Haitian-Americans & our team is ready to help Americans and their families any way we can. Click HERE for help with a federal agency. The State Department is able to help American citizens trapped in Haiti. Click HERE for information from the embassy and the resources available to Americans. To be the first to find out about Senator Scott’s actions and statements, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. — |
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Sen. Rick Scott: Biden’s $7.3 TRILLION Budget Proposal Insults American Families Senator Rick Scott issued the following statement slamming President Biden’s reckless $7.3 trillion budget proposal that will add $6.4 trillion to the national debt over the next four years. Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12, Senator Scott will question Shalanda Young, the Director of President Biden’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), during a hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. Senator Rick Scott said, “For three years, the American people have watched the Biden administration spend all their money and then borrow more and spend that too, but they aren’t seeing their lives get any better. Prices keep going up, interest rates keep going up, and taxes keep going up, but President Biden wants to add another $6.4 TRILLION in debt over the next four years with more reckless, inflation-fueling spending. And while life just keeps getting more expensive, it’s getting harder to find a good, full-time job which you can only expect to get worse if Biden raises the corporate tax rate to 28%, which is three points higher than Communist China’s rate! This proposed budget is an insult to the American people. In tomorrow’s Budget Committee hearing, I will press Director Young on President Biden’s disastrous budget record and expose the lies this administration tells every single day about the economy while families struggle just to get by.” Read more HERE. — Sen. Rick Scott: I Will Block Any Biden Effort to Bring Palestinian Refugees to America Senator Rick Scott released the below statement voicing concerns over the possibility of the Biden administration allowing tens of thousands of unvetted Palestinians to enter the United States. More than 100 Democrats in Congress have already called for President Biden to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and approve Deferred Enforced Departure for Palestinians present in the United States. Senator Rick Scott said, “I am gravely concerned about the pressure building from the radical left for President Biden to allow thousands of Palestinians to come to America. This would continue the disturbing trend we have seen from Democrat presidents of allowing unvetted and potentially dangerous individuals from nations and states that hate America to pour into our country. It cannot be allowed to happen again. “The FBI has repeatedly warned of the serious threats America faces from terror cells that are growing here in the United States. Director Wray detailed the significance of these threats to me in a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing last year, and reiterated the danger we face during yesterday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. We cannot ignore these warnings and the massive threat of terrorism that President Biden has allowed to grow within the United States. As reported in the Wall Street Journal this morning, European nations are taking action right now to stop terrorism tied to Gaza and the October 7th attacks on Israel. Given these reports and dire warnings from the FBI, I will do everything in my power as a United States Senator to block the Biden administration from bringing in refugees from Gaza, which have already been rejected from resettlement by Egypt and Jordan, and putting even more Americans at risk of terrorism on U.S. soil. Any resettlement must happen in the region, not the United States.” Read more HERE. — Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Mike Crapo and 14 of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Senate leadership urging it include a freeze to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) in the earliest possible legislative vehicle. An increased AEWR went into effect on January 1, 2024. Nationally, the rate increased by 5.6 percent. Unsustainable increases in the AEWR are especially harmful to small and family-operated farms and ranches, who are already limiting operations because they cannot afford to hire enough labor. The AEWR is one of many increasing costs farmers and ranchers face, and its unsustainable increases could threaten national food security and shift production outside the United States. Read more HERE. — Sen. Rick Scott on CPI Report: Biden’s Inflation Continues Hurting Florida Families Following the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Senator Rick Scott released the below statement highlighting the need to implement substantive fiscal reforms to end the ongoing inflation crisis fueled by the Biden administration’s reckless tax-and-spend agenda. February’s CPI data shows that there has been a significant rise in inflation during Biden’s presidency, with CPI increasing 3.2% over the year in February 2024. Since Biden took office, inflation is up 18.6% marking the 35th consecutive month inflation is above 3%. Senator Rick Scott said, “I heard from a woman in Orlando recently about how hard inflation is making her life. She said, ‘Not only can most of us not afford our groceries and rent we are literally choosing between paying our bills and eating.’ It’s heartbreaking. I grew up in public housing and watched my mom make those kinds of tough choices. I don’t want anyone else to have to do that today. This is why we shouldn’t pass a reckless spending bill with 6,600 earmarks. This is why we need to balance the budget and pay down the debt. Unfortunately, President Biden cares more about taking care of illegal aliens and funding his Green New Deal agenda than stopping the inflation he caused. If anyone needed more proof that Biden’s reckless spending is driving America off a fiscal cliff, today’s inflation report leaves no doubt. Inflation is up 18.6% since Biden took office, and his proposed $7.3 TRILLION budget will only make things worse. Think about this: Since 2019, the population has increased 2% and Biden’s latest budget proposal is up 66%. That is insane. These increased levels of spending are unsustainable, and it must be dead on arrival in Congress.” Read more HERE. — Senator Rick Scott questioned Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young during a hearing of the Senate Committee on the Budget on President Biden’s reckless $7.3 trillion FY 2025 budget proposal. President Biden’s proposed budget would add $6.4 trillion to the national debt over the next four years. Since 2019, the population has increased 2%, yet Biden’s latest budget proposal would increase federal spending by 66%—completely outpacing sustainable levels of spending.
Read more HERE. — Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Rand Paul, along with Senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall, all members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), in sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting additional information on Jose Antonio Ibarra. Ibarra faces charges related to the murder of Laken Hope Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University on the campus of the University of Georgia. The letter describes reports indicating Ibarra was previously apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2022 near El Paso, Texas, but was released into the country through parole. The letter also details the recent media reports outlining Ibarra’s multiple prior encounters with state and local law enforcement, including charges of reckless endangerment of a child in New York City and a misdemeanor shoplifting citation in Georgia. Despite consistently demonstrating a clear disregard for U.S. law, Ibarra was never taken into ICE custody. The senators expressed that the tragic death of Laken Hope Riley raises serious questions about the ability of DHS to effectively secure our homeland. As a result, the senators requested DHS provide all documents and records related to Ibarra and all communications DHS, CBP, and ICE had with each other along with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies regarding Ibarra. Read the full letter to Secretary Mayorkas HERE. Read more HERE. — Senators Rick Scott, Mike Braun and J.D. Vance sent a letter to Comptroller General Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) demanding an audit of Medicare, following reports of the $2.7 billion Medicare catheter fraud ring and the estimated $60 billion lost to Medicare fraud a year. Read more HERE. — Sen. Rick Scott Demands Answers on DHS Policy Allowing Illegal Aliens on Planes Without ID Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) reckless screening policy which enables unvetted illegal aliens to travel without a government-issued photo ID by using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “CBP One” app. According to a recent FOIA lawsuit, DHS approved 320,000 inadmissible illegal aliens traveling through 43 United States airports in 2023 through the CBP One app, while legal American citizens and visitors were required to present valid IDs. In his letter, Senator Scott notes this as another brazen attempt by the Biden administration to undermine U.S. law as his open border crisis allows millions to enter the country unchecked, further endangering the American people. Almost two years ago, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, Senator Scott grilled the TSA about illegal aliens not being required to present a valid ID to fly in the United States. Watch his questioning HERE. Read the full letter to Secretary Mayorkas HERE. Read more HERE. — Sen. Rick Scott: PPI Inflation Fueled by Bidenomics Keeps Hurting Florida Families Senator Rick Scott released the below statement following the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Senator Rick Scott released the below statement highlighting the need to implement substantive fiscal reforms to end the ongoing inflation crisis fueled by the Biden administration’s reckless tax-and-spend agenda. February’s PPI data shows that there has been a significant rise in inflation during Biden’s presidency. Since Biden took office, PPI is up 18.4%. Senator Rick Scott said, “The federal government needs a major course correction, not more of the failed Bidenomics agenda that’s been fueling inflation for three years. That seems to be clear to everyone except President Biden who this week proposed an absurd $7.3 trillion budget. Biden’s budget isn’t balanced and adds $6.4 trillion to debt over the next four years. That means it will only create more inflation and suffering for Florida families. I won’t stop fighting to end this inflation nightmare. It’s time to show Biden that his budget is dead on arrival in Congress and demand a return to fiscal sanity in Washington.” Read more HERE. — The Senate unanimously passed Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio’s Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary of National Significance Act, which would direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to formally enroll the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program (PPBEP) into the National Estuary Program as an “Estuary of National Significance.” The legislation would federally designate the PPBEP to leverage federal dollars, in coordination with funding by state and local governments, to address water quality and resource challenges in the estuary. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Estuary Program is non-regulatory, and the legislation now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Rick Scott said, “The Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary of National Significance Act will take important steps in our fight to protect and preserve Florida’s environment and natural resources. I am proud that our good bill was unanimously passed by the Senate last night and look forward to its passage in the House so it can be quickly signed into law.” Read more HERE. — Sens. Rick Scott & Colleagues Intro Laken Riley Act in Senate, Call for Immediate Consideration Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Katie Britt and Senator Ted Budd to introduce the Laken Riley Act which would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal aliens who commit theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses and would mandate that these aliens are detained until they are removed from the United States so they cannot reoffend and commit further crimes. Additionally, this legislation would ensure that states have standing to bring civil actions against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law. Read more HERE. — Senator Rick Scott led Senators Ted Cruz, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt in a letter to President Joe Biden calling on the administration to implement strong, targeted sanctions following the repeated and escalating violations of religious freedom in Nicaragua. In recent months, the Ortega-Murillo regime has arrested 13 pastors associated with evangelical group Mountain Gateway, who were targeted despite having the approval, support and assistance of the Nicaraguan government, and has issued arrest warrants for three American citizens associated with the organization. In their letter, the senators write that the unjust imprisonment of these religious leaders further confirms the Ortega-Murillo regime’s corruption and coordination with the regimes in Venezuela and Cuba in an oppressive campaign of destabilization in the Western Hemisphere. Read the full letter HERE. Read more HERE. — Sens. Rick Scott & Marco Rubio Demand Plan from Biden to Prevent Mass Migration From Haiti As political unrest and gang violence continue in Haiti, Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Joe Biden demanding answers on his administration’s plan to prevent the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis from having a direct negative impact on American national security and families, especially in Florida. Over the last three years, the Biden administration has repeatedly granted entry to mass numbers of foreign citizens without proper vetting and then provided these individuals with cash, phones, lawyers and other services paid for by the U.S. taxpayer. Read more HERE. — Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Marco Rubio, Representative María Elvira Salazar and their colleagues in sending a letter to President Joe Biden demanding he formally designate the vicious Tren de Aragua as a Transnational Criminal Organization. Tren de Aragua is a well-known criminal organization that originated in the prisons of Venezuela and has extended throughout our hemisphere. This transnational criminal structure has spearheaded murders, bribery schemes, drug-trafficking, kidnappings, ransoms, arms trafficking, and money laundering. Read the full letter HERE. Read more HERE. — Sen. Rick Scott Issues Weekly Update on Biden’s Inflation Crisis Senator Rick Scott released a weekly update on his actions to address America’s debt crisis and rising inflation. This week, reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the federal government’s key inflation indicators, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), rose more than expected causing even more strain on the budgets of American families and small businesses. Since President Joe Biden took office, CPI inflation is up 18.6%, while PPI inflation has risen 18.4%. Earlier this week following the CPI announcement, Senator Scott released the following statement. Additionally, earlier this week, Senator Scott questioned Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young during a hearing of the Senate Committee on the Budget on President Biden’s reckless $7.3 trillion FY 2025 budget proposal. President Biden’s proposed budget would add $6.4 trillion to the national debt over the next four years. Since 2019, the population has increased 2%, yet Biden’s latest budget proposal would increase federal spending by 66%—completely outpacing sustainable levels of spending. See more here. Read more HERE. Lea más en español AQUÍ. — |
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Fox News: Rick Scott: Biden is ‘completely unprepared’ for unrest, trapped Americans in Haiti The Epoch Times: Sen. Rick Scott Demands Answers From Mayorkas Over Policy on Illegal Aliens Boarding Flights Without IDs Florida Daily: Sen. Rick Scott Vows To Block Any Biden Effort To Bring Palestinian Refugees To America Florida Politics: Rick Scott opposes Israeli regime change, checks Chuck Schumer Florida Politics: Rick Scott leads Senate outrage over Nicaraguan preacher persecution Florida Politics: Rick Scott opposes potential Palestinian refugees in U.S. West Palm Beach News: Sen. Rick Scott Takes Stand Against Biden’s Proposal for Palestinian Refugee Resettlement Florida’s Voice: Rick Scott touts full passage of his sponsored ‘End Fentanyl Act’ Tampa Free Press: Florida Sen. Scott Says He Will Fight Efforts To Import Palestinian “Refugees” From Gaza Tampa Free Press: Florida Sen. Rick Scott Sounds Alarm On Escalating National Debt “Must Be Stopped” Tampa Free Press: Florida Sen. Rick Scott Says ‘Lock The Clock’ Ahead Of Daylight Savings Time The Floridian: Scott Seeks Protections for Agricultural Workers from Rising Wages The Floridian: Scott Wants Answers From Mayorkas Regarding Migrant Flights |
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Senator Scott’s Team in Port Canaveral
This week, Senator Scott’s team toured Port Canaveral with Port Authority CEO Captain John Murray. — Senator Scott’s Team in Marianna
Senator Scott’s team also visited Marianna High School to spread awareness about our Service Academy Nomination process. — Senator Scott’s Team in Gainesville
— Senator Scott’s Team in Miami
Another event Senator Scott’s team attended was the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 30th Anniversary Gala in Miami. — |
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