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Christina Pushaw, official spokeswoman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, called out the fake outrage from liberals criticizing $80 million in new infrastructure spending in the state announced last week.
Pushaw schooled so-called journalists and politicians alike for their attacks on DeSantis and Republicans, with some direct back-and-forth with Melissa Ross, who hosts the daily one-hour local call-in show “First Coast Connect With Melissa Ross” on WJCT, in addition to a weekly syndicated show on NPR.
Ross chimed in on Friday after the governor’s press conference — in an obvious attempt to politicize the welcome announcement of the newest allocation of funds — to note that DeSantis “opposed the [Biden] infrastructure bill” along with Florida’s Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.
She then inferred that the governor’s administration was being hypocritical when saying that this particular “funding is needed but calls the Biden infrastructure spending ‘wasteful pork.'”
The funding was appropriated during the Trump Administration, Melissa. It has nothing to do with Biden’s “infrastructure” bill. Correct your Tweet or be forever known as Fake News.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 29, 2022
Pushaw was referring to the funds allocated after Hurricane Irma in 2017. According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the “Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair Program was launched with $85,819,653 to fund infrastructure restoration and improvement projects in communities impacted by Hurricane Irma. The funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program to address unmet disaster recovery needs related to damage from Hurricane Irma.”
The governor’s press secretary called out one after another on Twitter who showed their “true colors” as Democrat activist hacks.
FYI, BlueAnon is lying. The $80 million @GovRonDeSantis awarded for infrastructure projects in South Florida today did NOT come from Biden’s infrastructure bill. It came from federal recovery funds post Hurricane Irma. Which was during Trump’s presidency. pic.twitter.com/6bslGhpjaW
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 29, 2022
No it’s from the Trump Administration if you want to specifically credit the federal government. Another journalist showing her true colors as a Democrat activist hack. https://t.co/AcrWMOP4Dy
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 29, 2022
Although the left immediately jumped on DeSantis’ announcement as the governor taking a victory lap for something that Biden made possible, the response was swift to repudiate it. Ross received pushback from other Twitter users, in addition to Pushaw:
Why should they be called out for when the funds were from the Hurricane Irma recovery money (under previous admin) and not the infrastructure bill?
— 🇺🇸HGBull🇵🇷 (@HectorGToro) January 29, 2022
Hi Melissa, it’s important for you to clarify that this funding is unrelated to the infrastructure bill. The implication that it is related is misleading and being propagated. Whether intentional or not, you should set the record straight for the sake of integrity. Thanks
— JR (@Niche331) January 29, 2022
Pushaw called Ross out for not properly doing her research.
… the funding was appropriated during the Trump Admin, to assist Florida with recovery from Hurricane Irma. @MelissainJax and other Democrat activists have been screeching at us to give failing Brandon credit for something President Trump & Governor DeSantis did. Sad!
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 29, 2022
Ross continued her back-and-forth with Pushaw, asking for DeSantis to appear on her show. In one tweet directed at Pushaw, she asked, “Why is federal funding from the previous administration ok but not this one?” She again requested that DeSantis appear on her show; Pushaw indicated that he receives requests like this dozens of times each day, saying that he responds to as many inquiries as possible.
Ross responded:
Great! Can he appear this coming Friday? To answer your previous tweet, we could talk about why the federal relief from several years ago is being released now for these projects, why the governor opposed the *current* infrastructure spend, state budget overall, and more. Thx. https://t.co/8EqwNsmjMv
— Melissa Ross (@MelissainJax) January 29, 2022
Pushaw tweeted back:
1. Because it is pork
2. If congress passes it despite it being wasteful, FL should be treated fairly & get a proportionate amount as blue states
3. Trump admin funds were in direct response to Hurricane Irma, not throwing fiscal spaghetti at the wall & hoping a bridge appears— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 29, 2022
Ross finally acknowledged the fact that the infrastructure dollars in Friday’s announcement were not coming from the Biden Infrastructure Bill:
Thx for reply. You are correct that the announcement from the other day is about a different pot of funding. It is also accurate the state’s top officials opposed the infrastructure bill- another source of federal funding. If possible pls explain delay in releasing earlier funds. https://t.co/GnedTqwShh
— Melissa Ross (@MelissainJax) January 29, 2022
Pushaw didn’t miss a beat and explained the allocation of the Hurricane Irma funds: “You called it a ‘delay,’ which indicates that it was delivered later than warranted. Rebuild Florida administers funds for long term recovery efforts that take years after a hurricane.”
She continued, saying, “And that is by design, the money is not meant to be blown all at once. Direct any specific questions about these grants and timelines to @FLDEO the state agency that administers the program! Thanks!”
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