New St. Johns Rep. opens up on financial and governmental reforms

Now that the new 113^th Congress is sworn in, WOKV is reaching out to your new representatives for their ideas on financial and governmental reform.

Ron DeSantis was sworn in Thursday to represent Florida's newly redrawn 6^th congressional district, which includes all of St. Johns and Flagler counties and parts of Putnam and Volusia counties.

“I think we really need to reform the way this government spends money,” DeSantis says.

DeSantis doesn't think President Obama is interested in serious tax or entitlement reform; just higher taxes.

“He’s wanted taxes,” he says.  “The taxes are there.  That’s not gonna come close to solving the problem.  People will be able to see that very quickly.”

DeSantis referenced when President Obama promised during his 2008 debates with Sen. John McCain that he would go through the federal budget line-by-line and cut programs.

“He’s never done any of that,” he says.  “I mean he has not gotten rid of one program.  He hasn’t offered up any bureaucracies that can be closed.”

DeSantis says real spending cuts coupled with pro-growth tax reform will create a “sounder fiscal footing” as well as facilitate more economic growth.

He doesn’t stop at the President, though.

“I think part of the reason we have fiscal problems is because we really haven’t reformed Congress,” DeSantis says.

He doesn't want Congress to “manufacture crises” such as the sequester so they don't have to do their job.

“So I’m not gonna be somebody who’s gonna wanna sign onto these gimmicks where we’re creating kinda fictitious deadlines,” DeSantis says.

“You just gotta do these things.  You gotta legislate them and do them in regular order.”

He says he won't stand for what he calls “phantom cuts,” instead of actual spending cuts.

“We’re not gonna be invading Iraq again for the next five years, therefore we’re saving fifty billion dollars because we’re not doing that.  To me, that is not gonna fly.  So if [President Obama] starts putting that forward, immediately that’s a no-go.”

DeSantis says he embraces “no budget no pay” policy for Congress to encourage the passage of a budget.

“You don’t pass a budget, you don’t get paid until you do,” he says.  “I think it’s hard to do good fiscal policy when one house of Congress hasn’t passed a budget in thirteen-hundred days.”

“It really is just a reform that says Congress has to do their job.”

DeSantis says he’s in favor of implementing term limits on members of Congress.

“I think that eighty percent of the people support term limits,” he says.  “It hasn’t been successful thus far.  I think maybe we can find a new approach to kinda craft an amendment that can get some more people on board.”

“I think that would be very good because you have so many people who have been around here for too long.”

Ron DeSantis says the country needs a “new birth of Constitutionalism.”

“Those principles are what make us unique, and so those are gonna be my guiding light.”

CLICK HERE for DeSantis' Facebook page.

CLICK HERE for DeSantis' Twitter page.