On Sunday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) appeared on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo to discuss a variety of issues, including vaccine mandates.
During the segment, after Bartiromo spoke about police officers possibly losing their jobs across the country as a result of vaccine mandates, DeSantis stated that he hopes to sign legislation to help bring out-of-state officers to Florida.
“In Florida, not only are we going to want to protect the law enforcement, and all the jobs, we’re actually actively working to recruit out-of-state law enforcement because we do have needs in our police and our sheriffs’ departments,” the governor said. “So, in the next legislative session, I’m going to hopefully sign legislation that gives a $5,000 bonus to any out-of-state law enforcement that relocates in Florida. So, NYPD, Minneapolis, Seattle — if you’re not being treated well, we’ll treat you better here. You can fill important needs for us, and we’ll compensate you as a result.”
DeSantis also called President Biden’s efforts regarding vaccine mandates “unconstitutional,” and promised to fight for Floridians’ jobs.
“What Biden’s doing is unconstitutional; he does not have the authority to do this, but what it will do on a practical level — in addition to being unconstitutional, in addition to taking away people’s personal choices — is it will wreak havoc in the economy because even if a small percentage of these folks end up losing their jobs or voluntarily walking away, you’re gonna have huge disruptions in medical, in logistics, in law enforcement,” DeSantis stated. “And so in Florida, our policy is very clear: we’re gonna have a special session and we’re gonna say, nobody should lose their job based off these injections. It’s a choice you can make, but we want to make sure we’re protecting your jobs and your livelihoods.”
Partial transcript below:
BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, these vaccine mandates are clearly unconstitutional, and now you’ve got first responders quitting in droves. We’re gonna speak with one of them who just lost his benefits later on in the program, a firefighter from Seattle. But look at some of these mandates and how they’re causing havoc because the health systems across the country are already at crisis levels and now nurses are saying, ‘Look, I have religious reasons, I have other reasons that I don’t want to be forced to take the shot,’ so they’re walking off the job. Military, if you get a discharged in the military with a dishonorable discharge, it’s almost equivalent to being treated like a felon; you can’t work again. Police unions are resisting. In Chicago, there will be fewer police on the streets — already a situation that has crime surging. What are you doing with regard to these vaccine mandates in Florida, governor?
DESANTIS: Well, fortunately, we’ve been able to fight back very effectively against mandates imposed by, for example, local governments against police, fire — Maria, these people we’ve been hailing as heroes, the nurses we’ve said have been heroes, this whole time, they’ve been working day in and day out, they never, they couldn’t do their job on Zoom, they had to be there, and they did it, and they did it with honor and integrity. Now, you have people that want to kick them out of their job over this shot, which is basically a personal decision.
And you’re right, what Biden’s doing is unconstitutional; he does not have the authority to do this, but what it will do on a practical level — in addition to being unconstitutional, in addition to taking away people’s personal choices — is it will wreak havoc in the economy because even if a small percentage of these folks end up losing their jobs or voluntarily walking away, you’re gonna have huge disruptions in medical, in logistics, in law enforcement. And so in Florida, our policy is very clear: we’re gonna have a special session and we’re gonna say, nobody should lose their job based off these injections. It’s a choice you can make, but we want to make sure we’re protecting your jobs and your livelihoods.
BARTIROMO: Yeah. Not only that, but in a situation where there’s crime spiking across the country, the president of the police union in Chicago is estimating that 3,200 Chicago police are defying the vaccine, and they will be off the job, that means off the streets. What is that doing to the American people and their feeling of safety? It’s very concerning. Your thoughts on where this is going? I mean, is he just trying to insist that this is a law so that companies follow before it can actually be, you know, [adjudicated] and confirmed to be unconstitutional?
DESANTIS: Well, first, I think it’s [fair] to point out on a scientific basis, most of those first responders have had COVID and have recovered, so they have strong protection. And so I think that influences their decision on a lot of this, that they have already had it and recovered. And so, they’re making no accommodations for that; they’re still pretending like that doesn’t even exist. And so that’s really, really troubling when you see that, but I can tell you, Maria, in Florida, not only are we going to want to protect the law enforcement, and all the jobs, we’re actually actively working to recruit out-of-state law enforcement because we do have needs in our police and our sheriffs’ departments. So, in the next legislative session, I’m going to hopefully sign legislation that gives a $5,000 bonus to any out-of-state law enforcement that relocates in Florida. So, NYPD, Minneapolis, Seattle — if you’re not being treated well, we’ll treat you better here. You can fill important needs for us, and we’ll compensate you as a result.