National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, Florida Senator Rick Scott, said that Biden’s reluctance to act on major issues would benefit Republicans in the 2022 midterms.
Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with host Margaret Brennan, Scott responded to a CBS poll that found 65% of Americans believe Biden has been “slow to react” to multiple crises like inflation, illegal immigration, soaring gas prices, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I think those numbers are consistent with what we’ve seen, that inflation is still the number one issue in the country and the president is slow to react, whether it’s the border, whether it’s inflation, whether it’s gas prices, even Ukraine,” Scott told Brennan. “I think the expectation is that whoever the president is gets ahead of the problems rather than behind the problem. So I think the election this fall is going to be about inflation. It’s going to be about the effectiveness of the Biden administration. And I think it bodes well for Republicans.”
Brennan challenged Scott, citing the CBS poll, which showed Republicans with just a 2-point advantage in trust to handle inflation.
Scott responded by pointing out steps Republicans would take to bring down costs.
“We’re going to balance the budget. We’re going to start watching the dollars very closely. We’re going to watch our spending. We are going to, you know, expect the Federal Reserve to reduce their balance sheet,” Scott said.
Brennan then pivoted toward questions about election integrity, claiming that “many” Republican candidates are talking about “relitigating the 2020 election.”
Scott dismissed those allegations, instead pointing out that voters are more concerned that elections are conducted fairly and that their votes are not diluted.
“As I go around the country and talk to people, what they’re hoping is that Republicans will make sure that– there’s voter I.D., there’s no ballot harvesting, signatures have to match. And that’s what when I talk to people, that’s what they care about.”
Asked by Brennan about the push to gradually end imports from China in Scott’s “Rescue America” plan, Scott also stressed the need to decouple from China.
“Well, I think what we’ve got to do is we’ve got- we’ve got to figure out how to decouple from China, and it’s going to take a while to do that,” Scott said. “But if you look at what they want to do, they’re sending fentanyl in this country. We had over 100,000 people die of drug overdose last year. They never comply with any trade agreements, they’ve never complied with the [World Trade Organization]. So, what we’ve got to do is we got to start building American jobs. We’ve got to get American manufacturing back. And when we do that one, our wages will go up, we’ll have more jobs in this country. People want to buy American products and there’s other countries to do business with.”
Brennan also asked about Scott’s plan to review all federal legislation after five years, including Medicare and Social Security spending. Scott defended his plan, saying that the federal government needs to be transparent with the American people and reign in the costs of the programs, as Medicare is projected to become insolvent in 2026 and Social Security in 2035.
“We have got to be honest with the American people and come up with solutions,” said Scott. “I believe in those programs and people rely on those programs.”
“We ought to be honest with the American people,” Scott added. “Here’s the things we’re going to do to make sure you get your Medicare, make sure you get your Social Security. So I will never raise a tax. I cut taxes more than 100 times, but I’m going to make sure we fix and make sure these Medicare programs and Social Security work.”