Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said this week that he would continue to update the policy agenda he published last week, clarifying that it was his own set of proposals and not the party’s — a clarification that came in response to pushback he got from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
During a Wednesday interview with The Hill, Scott maintained that Republican candidates throughout the nation would run their campaigns independent of his proposals, even as Democrats at the national level have vowed to use the Florida senator’s proposal as a way to depict Republicans as wanting to raise taxes and end programs such as Social Security and Medicaid.
“I put out some policy ideas. I’m going to keep working on this. There’s going to be things people agree with and don’t agree with. There’s going to be, you know, changes we’ll make as people give us their thoughts, but I want to have a conversation about what we do,” said Scott.
“This is what Rick Scott believes in, it’s not the Republican plan. I was very clear that it’s Rick Scott’s policy ideas. It’s nobody else’s policy ideas.”
McConnell and top Senate Republicans have put distance between themselves and Scott’s proposals. In a sign of division, McConnell said Tuesday that Scott’s plan “will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.”
“We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years,” McConnell told reporters.
Scott did not say whether McConnell had given him prior warning about his remarks. Yet the NRSC head remained firm to his belief that Republican voters should know what a Republican majority would do.
“I talk to voters, and what they, what they’re interested in is, so when you win, and people think we have a really good shot at winning, what are you going to do?” he said. “This is the stuff I think we ought to be talking about to make sure when we win, that we get something done.”
Scott’s plan includes measures for every American to pay at least some federal taxes and calls for sunsetting all federal legislation after five years — a provision Democrats say would ultimately end Medicaid and Social Security. Democrats are already eagerly trying to tie this plan to GOP candidates everywhere in the country.
“Senate Democrats are grateful for Rick Scott’s leadership at the NRSC. He’s exposed Republicans’ plans to raise taxes on seniors and working families along with ending Medicare and Social Security, he’s led Senate Republicans to a series of devastating recruitment failures, and now their flawed candidates remain stuck in vicious, expensive primaries,” said David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “In race after race, Rick Scott’s strategies have damaged Senate Republicans’ campaigns, and we’re thrilled with his work.”
But a day after Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Scott expressed confidence that his party would retake control of the now-evenly divided Senate.
“This should be a very good year for us. The Biden agenda is very unpopular. That puts us in a position to win. Now, you have to have good candidates; we do. You have to raise good money; we have,” Scott said.
The Hill notes:
Republicans are defending 21 seats in the Senate, including two in Oklahoma after Sen. James Inhofe said last week he would resign at the end of the year. Among the GOP seats up for election are competitive contests in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri, where Republican incumbents are retiring, and potentially tough races where Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are seeking reelection.
… “We’re winning in Georgia, we’re winning in Nevada, we have an opportunity in Arizona, we have an opportunity in New Hampshire. I think we can defend all 20 of our Republican seats, and I think we’re going to have some sleepers,” Scott said.
While the Republican Party’s fortunes seem to be favorable against Democrats going into the general election, there is also a battle playing out within the GOP between pro-Trump candidates and the establishment.
One thing is for certain: 2022 will be a nation-changing election.
