"I need to ask my staff," Florida Rep. Maria Salazar said as a reporter listed off times she bragged about getting money for her district that she opposed.
"I need to ask my staff," Florida Rep. Maria Salazar said as a reporter listed off times she bragged about getting money for her district that she opposed.
Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) on Sunday got called out for routinely taking credit for delivering money to her district — after opposing the bills that provided that money.
During an interview on CBS News Miami, host Jim DeFede asked Salazar about a ceremony she attended last month where she presented a check for $650,000 to help small businesses at Florida International University.
“You voted against the bill that gave the money that you then signed a check for and handed and had a photo op,” said DeFede, the host of CBS’s show “Facing South Florida.” “The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, right?”
She did vote against that $1.7 trillion government funding bill. It was a massive and memorable bill that almost every House Republican opposed.
Salazar said she couldn’t remember that vote.
“Right now, you have to give me more details,” she said. “But I do know that every time I have an opportunity to bring money to my constituents, I do so. I just did $400,000, but look—”
“But you voted against the CHIPS and Science Act, right?” DeFede interrupted.
Ronald Reagan literally spoke out against Medicare in 1961. Years later, when the story came out, he said that he had supported a better bill that got voted down. That, of course, was a lie.
“No problem, we have the info right here: You’re claiming credit for it, but records show on X date you voted against it. Can you please tell us why you’re claiming credit for it? And do you still claim credit given the way you voted on it?”