Republican governors are now so committed to pursuing their ideologies and criticizing opponents that they would rather make their constituents suffer than collaborate with political rivals, wrote David A. Graham for The Atlantic on Monday.
Graham's key focus is Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who he said deliberately turned down $346 million in energy efficiency and weatherization funding from the Inflation Reduction Act at a time when his own state is being battered by hurricanes.
DeSantis bucked his own legislature, which asked him to put in a request for the money, the Atlantic reported. DeSantis has not commented on his veto decision.
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Per a Politico report, some Democrats believe that DeSantis will relent after the presidential campaign season pressures are off him. But, warned Graham, it may run deeper than that — the governor may have a true ideological commitment to making his state worse.
"Another and more salient way to think about it is that it’s part of many Republican politicians’ strong commitment in recent years to ideological purity — and owning the libs — even at the expense of impoverishing and immiserating their own constituents," wrote Graham.
So far, DeSantis is alone in rejecting this money, but it wouldn't be the first such refusal in recent political memory.
After the Supreme Court allowed Republicans to reject Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act in 2012, many did, and though some Republican-controlled states have since relented or had Medicaid expanded by ballot referendum, others — Florida included — are still rejecting millions to cover low-income families.
