DeSantis slams Republicans for 'capitulating' to Biden on foreign aid: 'He got everything he wants'

Despite vehement opposition from some MAGA Republicans, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill on Saturday, April 20 that includes $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) supported the bill, much to the chagrin of far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) — who has vowed to get him ousted as House speaker.

The foreign aid package went to the U.S. Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-New York) — for all their policy differences — have found common ground on Ukraine aid.

One thing that wasn't passed on April 20 was a U.S./Mexico border bill, much to the disappointment of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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On Tuesday, April 23, DeSantis told reporters, "Republicans were sent there, and the number one issue that our voters wanted them to address is the southern border and the massive influx of foreigners by the millions coming into this country. And we don't know who these people are. And they basically just surrendered on the border. They now have no leverage to do anything on the border."

The Miami Herald's Alexandra Glorioso notes that "earlier this year, there was bipartisan support to pass a measure that combined an immigration overhaul" with "foreign aid" — but the measure was "abandoned by Republicans" after former President Donald Trump voiced his opposition.

When MAGA Republicans opposed that border/foreign aid agreement, MSNBC host and Never Trump conservative Joe Scarborough railed against them relentlessly — arguing that President Joe Biden and other Democrats were quite willing to compromise on border policy and meet Republicans more than half way. Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis, another Never Trumper, expressed similar views.

DeSantis, who gave presumptive GOP presidential nominee Trump a lukewarm endorsement after ending his presidential campaign earlier this year, is not a Never Trumper. But he believes that House Republicans dropped the ball badly where border security is concerned.

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At the April 23 news conference, DeSantis told reporters, "They had an opportunity to insist that Biden accept the border if he wanted all the foreign aid, and they decided to capitulate. And so, he got everything he wants. And Republican voters did not get anything with respect to stopping this problem at the southern border."

Some of DeSantis comments were even more scathing.

The far-right Florida governor told reporters, "We're doing more in Florida to deal with it than the Congress is. I mean, it's just pathetic that that's going on. So, I was really, really disappointed to see that they basically capitulated entirely on the border. And at this point, you're not gonna see anything done on the border for the rest of this year. What, are we just going to let in another 2 million people and do nothing about it? I think it was a real, real failure."

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