Gov. DeSantis bashes House Everglades budget plan

DeSantis Everglades funding highlight; image via Gov's Rumble

Gov. Ron DeSantis is opening a new line of attack on the Republican supermajority House, with the latest volley being about Everglades budget proposals.

“I submitted my budget in February and my budget called to continue the momentum of Everglades restoration and water quality. We proposed over $800 million, which is a record for that,” DeSantis said at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

“The Senate has basically agreed with that and is on board for what we’re looking for,” DeSantis added. “Unfortunately, the Florida House of Representatives (has) proposed a budget that slashes Everglades funding and water quality efforts by almost half a billion dollars, almost $500 million in reductions that they’re putting into this budget.”

DeSantis argued the House’s decision-making stems from a personal grudge against him, saying that “the leadership in the House of Representatives has taken a position that if I’m for something that it’s their view to just oppose us, just in a knee-jerk fashion.”

“‘Oh, the Governor always gets his way. We don’t want to give the Governor any wins.’ That’s kind of how these people think,” the Governor related.

“This is one of so many other things where their agenda is not your agenda. Their agenda is not what the people voted for. Their whole agenda really represents a revolt against the voters that sent them there. All they had to do was continue the momentum, continue the success, build off what had come before you. And instead they submit a budget, where they’re trying to totally sabotage all the efforts that we have with Everglades Restoration.”

The Governor rejected the argument that the House budget is smaller because of unspent money from the current budget, which is said to exceed $1 billion.

“They’ll try to say, ‘Oh, there’s money sitting there that’s not being used.’ That’s not true,” DeSantis said. “And so all this stuff is obligated. It’s all being put into work and all these projects are being moved forward.”

DeSantis continued to harangue the House budget as one that is “outright wrong” and “turning its back on Everglades Restoration,” rhetorically questioning his supporters on hand.

“Did you vote to stop and sabotage the progress that we’ve made with Everglades restoration? And look, if that’s what you wanted, if that’s what you thought you were getting when you sent folks to the Florida House of Representatives, look, we can agree to disagree. I mean, that’s life, right? Not everyone has to agree with me on this stuff. But I don’t think that’s what they told you they were going to do,” DeSantis said.

Unsurprisingly, the Governor wanted the biggest tranche of funds ($613 million) for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). He recommended another $78 million for the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program, designed to improve water quality.

Additionally, he floated $64 million for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, in a continued effort to move water to the central Everglades and Everglades National Park (ENP).

And DeSantis proposed $50 million for “specific project components designed to achieve the greatest reductions in harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries as identified in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project Draft Integrated Project Implementation Report and Environmental Impact Statement dated August 2020.”

In a smaller spend, he offered $3 million to wipe out invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.