Marco Rubio, Rick Scott vote against foreign aid package passed by Senate

The U.S. Senate passed a foreign aid package, but neither of Florida’s Senators supported the deal.

After an all-night Session, the Senate early Tuesday voted 70-29 in favor of a $95.3 billion spend. But both U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott cast “nay” votes.

Scott, a Naples Republican, supports funding for Israel but spoke on the floor about the nation’s history in conflicts abroad. During a 40-minute presentation of legislation on blocking money from reaching Hamas, he suggested the Founding Fathers would favor a more measured approach.

“One of the first decisions facing our new Republic was whether to engage in the conflict raging between French revolutionaries in the alliance of European nations led by Great Britain,” Scott said in a floor speech. “As we all know, President George Washington ultimately decided to remain neutral in that conflict knowing that our new nation was not prepared to assume the grand responsibilities of supporting the cause no matter how noble.”

He dismissed Democrats’ insistence the U.S. had to support Ukraine with no oversight. Rather, he said it was the current strong-arming of an agenda in the Senate that he said undermined the democratic process in Congress.

“I think this process has destroyed the Senate and ignores the great history of our nation,” he said.

Rubio, for his part, focused his concerns on the Southern border.

In an one-hour speech, the Miami Republican stressed he’s no fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and considered the independence of Ukraine a vital U.S. interest. But he said the invasion of the country by Russia wasn’t the rapid operation Putin promised.

“There are dozens of territorial disputes going on in the world right now as we speak,” Rubio said.

But Florida’s senior Senator said the body should be concerned with the flood of migrants into the U.S. across the border with Mexico.

“This invasion of the U.S. is going to get worse,” he said, showing graphs of the massive spikes in border crossings over the past few years.

“We are consistently ignoring the needs of everyday, hard-working Americans and putting something or someone above them, over and over and over again. That’s why people lose faith in their institutions.”

The positions of Florida’s senators put both at odds with Senate Republican leadership. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said the “eyes of the world” were on Congress now to see if he stood by its allies.

“Will we give those who wish us harm more reason to question our resolve, or will we recommit to exercising American strength?” he said on the floor.

Democrats in Florida also pounced on the position of the senators.

“This week Rick Scott: voted against national security; voted against border security; voted against funding for Ukraine and Israel,” posted Democratic Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell on X. “Rick Scott is playing into the hands of dictators. He is a threat to our democracy and a threat to our national security.”

But Scott said the nation has grown weary of directing its resources to conflicts overseas.

“Today we are once again cash-strapped and war weary,” Scott said. “Like never before, Americans are questioning whether their federal government has lost its way and now fails to represent the people they elected.”