Florida’s congressional Republicans rarely speak with one voice, as you would expect from representatives of the American melting pot’s melting pot.
That’s GOP big-tentism for you.
When it comes to the daily overrunning of the nation’s southern border, however, Sunshine State Republicans dispatched to Washington harmonize from the same page of the hymnal.
And with the end of the short-term funding measure looming, those Republicans are demanding their solidarity not only be heard but heeded.
House Republicans continue to demand action on the southern border, and the Representatives from Florida count among the most vocal. Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) discussed the border crisis in a recent appearance on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria, saying Democrats have been ignoring the issue “at their own political peril” and Americans will recognize current policies as “not humane.”
“[Democrats] ignore it at their own political peril,” said Rep. Cammack, “but also at the risk of our own national security.”
Having visited the border herself several times, she described seeing “little children that are being trafficked. You see women who have been abused. You see grown military-age men with tattoos on their faces claiming asylum. It is clear the entire immigration system is broken.”
Cammack, whose North Florida district includes deep blue Gainesville, spoke for the oft-divided 20-member Florida GOP caucus (two Senators, 18 Representatives) when she proposed “bifurcation” of the issue: Secure the border first, consider other policies later. Similar proposals have been laid out by Republicans Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, and Byron Donalds.
Echoing Cammack, Mills — whose district extends northeast from the Orlando suburbs to Daytona Beach — sees the looming funding deadline as a time for choosing: “[S]hut the border, or Shutdown the government,” he posted to X/Twitter.
This is something I stated earlier but worth recycling:
“Get the 12 single-point Appropriation Bills with necessary cuts, reforms, economic growth strategy, and either shut the border or Shutdown the government” pic.twitter.com/hkUgX0cUaf
— Cory Mills (@CoryMillsFL) December 31, 2023
Luna, representing St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, and several other Gulf of Mexico beach towns — in short, across the peninsula from Mills — seemed prepared to draw a line in the sand well above the tidal surge.
“To hear that this is somehow a humanitarian thing, and we need to just blanket wave these people in. One, it is stupid, but also it is a political talking point. And let me be clear about something. We absolutely have the ability to stop this, and we should,” explained Luna.
Donalds, who represents deep red Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers and Naples, vowed no action on funding the government without advancing The Secure the Border Act, or HR2, passed by the House in May and stalled by the Biden White House and the Democrat-led Senate ever since.
“You have an administration, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and everybody else, they do not want to do the simple job of securing the border. And so now when you have a massive catastrophe which they created. Now they are going down to Mexico to see what can be done. The answer is simple: to follow the House Republicans’ HR2. It is the plan,” said Rep. Donalds, adding that any discussion of Ukraine can come later.
We would be horribly remiss if we did not include Gov. Ron DeSantis in this rare mix of Florida GOP unity. Vying for the Republican presidential nomination in Iowa, DeSantis promised a town hall audience Tuesday he’d waste no time militarizing the border with Mexico.
Next up: Escorting back home those on U.S. soil illegally.
“I’m going to have the military on the border to stop the invasion cold. But one of the things we have to do is, people come illegally, we’ve had millions under Biden, I’m going to deport them back to their home country,” said DeSantis. “You have got to do that.”
Moreover, DeSantis took the opportunity to double down on the wall-building scheme poll-leader Donald Trump promised before his 2016 election, but ignored thereafter: Funding construction with money bound for overseas recipients:
“Mexico is not just going to give us money. You charge fees on the remittances that workers send overseas. That’ll raise billions. We’ll build the wall,” added DeSantis.
In case that’s not sufficiently stern for your tastes, the governor who chartered jets to relocate undocumented immigrants to sanctuary (in-name-only) towns promises, as president, to crush organized crime gangs that profit off the Biden administration’s sieve-like border policies.
“But most importantly, we’re going to hold the Mexican drug cartels accountable. I’m going to categorize them as foreign terrorist organizations. That’s going to give us an ability to use deadly military force against them.”
In a forceful opinion piece published in the Des Moines Register Wednesday, DeSantis left no room for ambiguity or walking back:
We are at war, and in a crisis. … As president, I will end this chaos and reclaim our sovereignty.
The op-ed detailing the DeSantis Doctrine is worth your time. But its no-nonsense author must first overcome daunting odds and wage a winning campaign. For the moment, then, the ball is in the hands of Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Having Florida GOPers speaking with one voice won’t hurt.
