Budget Could Spark GOP Civil War
February 8th, 2011 by flanewsWith the release of his budget, Governor Rick Scott drew a line in the sand. Now it’s up to the Republican-led legislature to choose to stay on Scott’s side and pass his bold spending plan, or as Whitney Ray tells us, stand up against the layoffs, education cuts, and tax breaks and spark a GOP civil war.
With the GOP in control of the House, Senate and the Governor’s office… there was little room for dissent until this.
“Everything in this budget is basically what I believe in,” said Scott.
Monday Governor Rick Scott released his bold budget proposal: eliminating 86-hundred state jobs, reducing school funding by three billion dollars, and cutting taxes at a time when revenues are already low.
It’s now up to lawmakers to produce their budget. They say Scott’s suggestions are brazen. Dissenting viewpoints are at a whisper right now.
“I’ve already heard from many of my Republican colleges, not Democratic colleges, but Republican colleges that are having a hard time swallowing some of the proposals,” said Senator Mike Fasano.
“Governor Bush had Republican legislatures as well and very rarely if ever did his budget go all the way through,” said Representative Erik Fresen.
Monday night Scott met with Senate leaders and asked them to pass his budget. But the legislature isn’t likely to give the governor everything he wants. If Scott doesn’t like their budget he can veto it, but then it goes right back to lawmakers.
And if they have the votes, the can override the governor’s veto. There’s also some confusion over the governor’s proposal for the legislature to pass a two year spending plan. Right now no one knows if the legislature wants to look that far into the future.
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