Calling out federal waste and foreign aid subsidies while pointing to his own record of bucking party leadership in Tallahassee, GOP 14th congressional district nominee Mike Beltran promises to bring a sharp litigator’s cross-examination to Washington’s budget crisis.
asserted
Beltran → call → crisis
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital detailing his bid to unseat 20-year Democratic incumbent Kathy Castor, the former Florida state representative laid out a case rooted in strict fiscal accountability, pledged to challenge even Republican leadership on bloated federal budgets, and warned of the Democrats' embrace of socialism.
asserted
representative → detail → socialism
Beltran argues that despite her lengthy tenure on Capitol Hill, the people of Tampa Bay have not been served well by Kathy Castor.
"
asserted
people → argue → Castor
People in Tampa Bay have precious little to show for Kathy Castor's two decades of incumbency.
asserted
People → have → incumbency
She's had no major legislative initiatives.
asserted
She → have → initiatives
All she's really done is rename post offices.
asserted
she → do → offices
And all that's likely to happen if we reelect her is for her to rename every post office from Tampa to Timbuktu.
"
asserted
her → happen → Timbuktu
She votes with her party over 90% of the time, including radical socialists.
asserted
She → vote → socialists
She voted in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and she's poised to elect the Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.
asserted
she → vote → Speaker
And Speaker Hakeem Jeffries would appoint a Chair Raskin, a Chair Omar, a Chair Cortez, and those folks would push radical policies in Congress that are completely out of line with what Tampa families need."
asserted
families → appoint → what
Beltran argues that in the Florida Legislature he served as an independent conservative voice, not automatically beholden to party leadership, and pledges to continue that approach in Washington.
"
asserted
he → argue → Washington
I've had the courage to vote against special interests even when my own party had lost its way.
asserted
party → have → way
I've voted against insurance companies, home builders, trial lawyers, I voted against various special interests…whenever somebody was doing something that wasn't good for Tampa families.
asserted
that → vote → families
"And I had that bipartisan record throughout my time, starting in 2019 and continuing through to 2024, unlike my opponent who discovered bipartisanship merely weeks ago.
asserted
who → have → bipartisanship
So I'm always going to do what's best for the communities that I represent, regardless of party, regardless of special interests, regardless of pressure.
asserted
I → go → pressure
And that's what I'm proud of, having that independent voting record."
asserted
I → have → record
Beltran argues that the United States needs to reexamine its military and geopolitical relationships, with an eye to fiscal prudence:
asserted
States → argue → prudence
You cannot have a wealthy country like Germany spend under 2% of GDP on their military when we're spending over 5% of our GDP on our military budgets, about a trillion dollars.
asserted
we → have → dollars
And a lot of that is spent overseas protecting other wealthy countries.
asserted
lot → spend → countries
You see Ukraine and Israel, they're defending themselves from their adversaries.
asserted
they → see → adversaries
They're doing a good job of that.
asserted
They → do → that
But we are borrowing $2 trillion a year from countries like China.
asserted
we → borrow → China
And that's causing inflation.
asserted
that → cause → inflation
And what that says is that we don't have money to be sending, particularly to wealthy allies like Germany and Spain.
asserted
we → say → Germany
"These are countries where we have bases, where we've had trouble getting basing privileges or overflight rights for the conflicts that we do need to engage in.
asserted
we → have → that
And we shouldn't be subsidizing them anymore.
asserted
we → subsidize → them
You see Israel spends over 10% of GDP on defense, as does South Korea.
asserted
Korea → see → defense
Those countries are carrying the weight of their own defense, but we don't see that from all of our NATO allies.
asserted
we → carry → allies
They should be doing more, and they're doing less, and that's unacceptable."
asserted
that → do → less
As an attorney, Beltran makes the case that he will bring a strong skill-set to Capitol Hill, to do away with business as usual and to fight for the citizens of Hillsborough County:
asserted
he → make → County
I'll be good at scrutinizing witnesses who come before committees that I serve on.
asserted
I → scrutinize → that
I've litigated in the federal courts, so I know the federal statutes.
asserted
I → litigate → statutes
I know issues that need to be redressed.
asserted
that → know → issues
I know how to write statutes so that they can be easily applied by judges, so that attorneys can counsel their clients on what the law is and what they need to do to comply with that.
asserted
they → know → that
"I'm proud to be a practicing attorney.
asserted
I → practice → ?
I've helped a lot of businesses and individuals throughout Tampa Bay for almost 20 years.
asserted
I → help → years
"And my opponent is also an attorney, but she hasn't practiced in a very long time.
asserted
she → practice → time
She was, I think, a land use attorney, she says, before she was a county commissioner.
asserted
she → think → ?
But I don't think she brings that same skill-set.
asserted
she → think → set
I've never seen her cross-examine a witness to any effect.
asserted
her → see → effect
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
