Rick Scott vetoed a record amount of spending in the state’s budget at a campaign-style event in which Democrats were forbidden from attending
THE VILLAGES -- At a campaign-style event, Gov. Rick Scott made himself Florida’s new veto king Thursday when he axed $615 million from the state budget before signing it.
The biggest target of the veto pen: A $305 million reduction for land buys. The college system also bore the brunt of the reduction, with Scott vetoing tens of millions of construction projects. He also cut hundreds of millions of relatively small earmarks inserted by top legislators to benefit their hometown districts.
Scott called on his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature to plow the vetoed money back into the classroom. Scott praised lawmakers for balancing the budget in tough times, but then subtly swiped at them for doing the bidding of “special interests” by packing the budget with so many hometown projects.
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