AP Photo/Susan Wals
- Jen Psaki blasted Gov. Ron DeSantis for fundraising off of his spat with the White House.
- Biden and DeSantis have been feuding over the Florida governor making it harder for schools to require masks.
- "I want public health officials to make decisions about how to keep my kids safe – not politicians," Psaki said.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday called out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for fundraising off an ongoing spat with the White House over his signing a bill that would cut funding from local school districts that require students to wear masks.
"As the parent myself of two young children, I want public health officials to make decisions about how to keep my kids safe – not politicians," Psaki said at her news briefing. "And not only is Gov. DeSantis not abiding by public health decisions, he's fundraising off of this. So my view, and our view as an administration, is that parents in Florida and parents across the country should have the ability and knowledge that their kids are going to school and they're in safe environments."
The beef started on Tuesday when Biden called out DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in particular for signing into law bills that make it harder for localities, school districts, and businesses to require vaccination or mask-wearing.
Both states are seeing rapidly rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations primarily driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
-The Recount (@therecount) August 6, 2021
"Some state officials are passing laws ... that forbid people from doing the right thing," Biden said on Tuesday about the pandemic. "I say to the governors, please help. If you're not going to help, get out of the way of the people that are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives."
In response, DeSantis blamed the Biden administration for the rise in cases, specifically by "[importing] more virus from around the world by having a wide-open southern border."
"Why don't you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure, and until you do that, I don't want to hear a blip about COVID from you, thank you" DeSantis hit back.
Biden was in turn asked about DeSantis' comments at a White House event about electric vehicles on Thursday. "Governor who?" he quipped. "That's my response."
DeSantis' rebuttal came in a Friday morning fundraising email sent out through the Conservative Review's email list.
"Joe Biden wants me to get out of the way because I refuse to yield power to the federal government and strip Floridians of their liberties. Well, I've got news for Joe Biden: I'm standing in your way and I'm not going anywhere," he wrote
Then, in a fundraising email sent out shortly after 1:30 pm, DeSantis' campaign charged that Biden is "taking away the freedoms of law-abiding Americans" and said the governor "will not kowtow to authoritarian bullying from Joe Biden or anyone else. He will ALWAYS stand up for the freedom of Floridians."