'He didn't like that I opposed him': Rick Scott says McConnell removing him from committee is 'retribution'

02 February 2023

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) believes Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is seeking retribution by removing Scott from the Senate Commerce Committee, CNN reports.

Scott, who recently announced his senatorial reelection campaign, attempted to end the Kentucky Senator's 15-year streak as minority leader by running against him for the seat in November.

“He didn’t like that I opposed him because I believe we have to have ideas – fight over ideas. And so, he took [Sen.] Mike Lee (R-UT) and I off the committee,” the Florida senator told CNN.

Though Scott still holds positions on four other committees, he "doesn't know why" he was ousted from the Commerce panel.

The former Florida governor also commented on McConnell's opposition to his controversial "Rescue America" plan that would likely push millions of poor Florida residents to pay more taxes.

“I believe that everybody up here – this is not a Republican-Democrat issue – we all ought to be putting out our ideas and fight over ideas up here,” Scott said.

Per CNN, the senators have a prolonged history of opposing ideas, and eventually reached an inflection point following Republican midterm election losses, which led Scott to challenge McConnell's seat.

“Our job is to represent the people of the country — this is not about winners and losers, it’s not about partisan stuff, this is about who are the best people to solve the problems of this country?” Scott said. “We have a lot of problems, so I’m going to keep fighting for them. I don’t know why he did it. That’s life.”

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