Republicans Blast Scott
The Miami Herald reports that the Republican Florida Senate is not happy: Scott rebuked by 26 senators over high-speed rail funding
From Washington to Tallahassee, Florida lawmakers scrambled Thursday to save $2.4 billion in federal money for high-speed rail that Gov. Rick Scott rejected.
…“The cart’s in a ditch right now and we’ve got to figure out a way if we can all pull it out together,” said U.S. Rep. John Mica, an Orlando area Republican who is chairman of the powerful House transportation committee.
In Tallahassee, a veto-proof majority of the Florida Senate rebuked Scott in a letter that urged the federal government to give the state the money Scott has refused.
“Politics should have no place in the future of Florida’s transportation, as evidenced by this letter of bipartisan support,” said the letter, signed by 26 members of the Republican-controlled Florida Senate.
“This project would create real jobs, cleaner and smarter transportation and true economic development for Floridians,” said the letter written to LaHood.
…Late Thursday, a Florida tea party group and the conservative activist organization Americans for Prosperity reached out to supporters to drum up support for Scott’s decision.
“We have watched over the past 24 hours as our governor has been attacked because he has stood up to the Obama administration and the high speed rail boondoggle,” read an e-mail alert by the South Florida Tea Party, which included a link for people to send a fax to Sen. Bill Nelson. “As a tea party member, I will remember who fought for the people in November 2012!” it reads.
“Americans for Prosperity” is a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries and is involved in the Wisconsin mess as well as Florida’s. The Obama administration couldn’t care less if Florida turns down the money as a number of other states have already asked for it.
The Florida portion of this project was already allocated by vote last year, so Scott can’t even veto it to show what a true Tea Partier he is. This has been in the works for decades, and now is the best time to do it while the cost of construction and land is in the basement and Federal money is available.
3 comments
Ah, the sound of chickens coming home to roost… it’d be sweet if only I weren’t living in the same damn coop they’ve been so busy tearing down.
I hope Scott wins. We need more money for our own high speed rail line here in California, and anything Florida doesn’t want, we’re happy to have.
For the naysayers who whine that high speed rail won’t pay for itself yada yada — funny how they never demand that I-5 pay for itself. Really funny, eh?
Yeah, sure, always thinking of yourself, Badtux 😉
Florida should have build out rail when it was first proposed by Bob Graham while he was governor. We had the money, but the auto makers lobbied against it, and stalled the process. Then the Republicans took control of the government and drove us to fiscal ruin.