Gov. DeSantis rips House for budget veto overrides

Florida’s Governor is fuming after the Republican supermajority in the House bucked four of his line-item vetoes.

In a statement disseminated on social media, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the House sought to pad the budget rather than deal with issues Florida actually cares about.

“Republicans in the Florida House voted to undo millions of dollars in cost savings that I instituted back in June of 2024, when I signed the budget for this fiscal year. And over the last two months, they have voted to undo more than 60 million dollars in taxpayers’ savings, choosing to spend more in this fiscal year when we’re almost at the end of it,” DeSantis said, regarding four member projects that he spiked but that House Republicans resuscitated.

Those projects are:

— $2.5 million for Rockledge Advanced Water Treatment Phase 1 sponsored by former Rep. Thad Altman, an Indiatlantic Republican. The money would be spent lowering nutrient loads on the Indian River Lagoon and removing 29,106 pounds of nitrogen per year.

— $1.53 million for the Baldwin Sanitary Sewer System Rehabilitation and Water Main Replacement on Main Street sponsored by Rep. Dean Black, a Jacksonville Republican. “This vital project will make critical improvements to the Town’s aged and deteriorated water and sewer systems. In the last year, Town Staff has been in a perpetual state of making costly emergency, and often dangerous, repairs to the Town’s water and sewer mains,” the appropriations request said. “This project would ensure the portions of the water and sewer mains that are susceptible to failure are replaced or rehabilitated, resulting in significantly increased safety and reliability to the water and sewer infrastructure.”

— $1 million to fund the Corrections Department’s automated staffing, time management and scheduling system.

— $360,000 for Florida Senior Veterans in Crisis Fund sponsored by former Rep. Sam Killebrew, a Winter Haven Republican. The money would be spent to “keep our senior veterans off the street and in a protected environment by obtaining the VA Pension Plus Aid and Attendance benefit for Wartime Veterans,” the appropriations request said. “Florida has the 3rd highest Veteran population in the US and without these VA benefits many are forced to go on FL’s Medicaid program, live in nursing homes or even worse become homeless. Our goal is to save the State of FL approx. $5-$6 million in Medicaid funds by shifting these expenses to the Federal VA programs — a great ROI for FL.”

DeSantis went on to accuse the House of having “not addressed pressing issues that Floridians care about.”

“We need relief from the condo crisis. We need to enact permanent protections for medical freedom. We need a universal E Verify (and to) strengthen our existing laws against illegal immigration, and we need a Florida first tax package that will reduce the number one tax that is hurting Floridians, which is property tax. People need relief. They want it and we need to deliver it for them,” DeSantis said.

The House previously bucked DeSantis on the illegal immigration package, before eventually reaching a compromise.

Though all sides papered over that conflict, it’s clear the schism is still real between House Republicans and the Governor headed into the final leg of his tenure.

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Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report.