Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed Vice President Kamala Harris this week for supporting the port strikes on the East Coast that threaten to bring the U.S. economy to its knees.
Tens of thousands of dock workers who are members of the International Longshoremen’s Association walked off the job at midnight on Tuesday at ports along the East and Gulf coasts.
In her only statement on the matter, Harris showed no regard for the billions of dollars a day in damage the strike is causing the U.S. economy.
“This strike is about fairness,” she claimed. “Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis, who is leading hurricane recovery efforts in his state and is also helping surrounding states, said: “One of the things I’m concerned about is potentially these ports getting hung up.”
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“I think it’s totally unacceptable to try to intentionally deprive people of the supplies they need to be able to rebuild their homes when they’ve been displaced at a natural disaster,” he said. “We should be doing all we can, the federal government should be doing all they can, to make sure all the supplies continue to come in here unabated.”
“Now is not the time,” he continued. “You already have people that are reeling. You have people that are on their backs. Let’s do everything we can to accelerate the relief. Make sure that they have the equipment, make sure they have the supplies that they need to be able to rehab their properties and rebuild their homes.”
DeSantis said that the administration’s disastrous response to the strikes could delay people getting the supplies that they need by weeks or even longer.
“I think it would be [a] really, really bad look for the Biden-Harris administration to allow supplies to just be sitting in the Atlantic Ocean, just on ships that are just idling, when you have people, not just here in Pinellas County, but up our entire Gulf Coast in Big Bend, who need it,” he said. “It’s not something that will be good if they allow this to happen.”
WATCH:
NOW: @GovRonDeSantis speaks out and strongly condemns the hold ups caused by the port strikes & Biden-Harris’ inaction:
“It’s totally unacceptable.”
“The federal government should be doing all they can to make sure supplies continue to come in unabated.” pic.twitter.com/g1BLWHWEhr— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) October 2, 2024