DeSantis says Republicans share blame for $32 trillion debt

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed both congressional Democrats and Republicans for the nation’s $32 trillion in national debt at a summit on Friday.

“I’m not going to let the Congress spend this country into oblivion any longer,” DeSantis said at the Concerned Women for America Summit in Washington, D.C.

“And let’s just be clear – we didn’t get $32 trillion in debt just because of one party. It’s been Republicans and Democrats in D.C. who have bankrupted this country,” he continued.

DeSantis recently called out both parties for adding to the national debt and singled out his opponent, former President Trump, in an interview with CBS News released Wednesday for his contribution to the debt while he was commander in chief. The national debt rose by $7.4 trillion throughout the duration of the Trump administration, from $19.5 trillion to $26.9 trillion, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“Donald Trump added almost $8 trillion to the debt in four years. He ran saying he was going to eliminate the national debt,” DeSantis said during the interview. “He did make that promise, and they did the opposite.”

The Florida governor has also been an outspoken critic of the bipartisan debt ceiling deal President Biden signed into law in June, saying the U.S. is still “careening toward bankruptcy.”

“In Washington, D.C., they do these cycles to just get them through the next election. And that’s ultimately one of the reasons why they continue to fail,” DeSantis said at the time.

Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley gave similar remarks attributing the national debt to “our Republicans” at the first GOP primary debate last month.

“No one is telling the American people the truth. The truth is that Biden didn’t do this to us,” Haley said. “Our Republicans did this to us too. When they passed that $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus bill, they left us with 90 million people on Medicaid, 42 million people on food stamps. No one has told you how to fix it.”

Haley railed against her fellow Republican candidates, including former President Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and even DeSantis himself.

“You have Ron DeSantis, you’ve got Tim Scott, you’ve got Mike Pence — they all voted to raise the debt. And Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt. Our kids are never going to forgive us for this,” Haley said.