A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis is not going to participate in a summit proposed by the Republican Party of Florida to bridge divides between him, Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez on a budget that is running late.
“That’s not the role of the Republican Party of Florida,” DeSantis said. “We’re not going to do a dog and pony show. That’s not the way it works. The way it works is: People should do their jobs.”
The state party’s unprecedented offer to broker peace via “thoughtful discussion and aligned decision-making” clearly struck the Governor as extraneous.
“You don’t need a summit to just keep doing what we’ve been doing,” DeSantis added.
RPOF chair Evan Power was undaunted by DeSantis’ words.
“Floridians want historic tax reform and the Republican Party is always ready to help in any way possible to advance the goals of our Republican team,” he said Monday.
The offer came after legislative leadership ended last week saying plenty of budget issues remain unresolved.
Perez said in a memo Friday that a previous budget framework “has blown up.” He added that on Tuesday, the House will “pass a concurrent resolution extending the timeline through the end of June.”
In his own memo, Albritton noted that the House “proposal for an across-the-board sales tax cut would unduly benefit tourists and foreigners and is ‘dead on arrival’” should it be in the final budget. DeSantis has threatened to veto such a proposal.
“An across-the-board sales tax cut of one quarter of one penny is not meaningful, felt, or seen by families and seniors when compared with other available options,” Albritton wrote Friday.
DeSantis continued to take the House leadership to task, calling them a “little junta.”
“Some of these folks in the House leadership, they have a personal agenda. They have vendettas, petty. It’s not being driven by strong policy and they’re trying to really deviate in a variety of ways,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis also said “the House leadership has kind of careened off course the whole Session,” criticizing their intransigence during the illegal immigration Special Session earlier this year.
“I don’t know what got into the water. I think it’s just the leadership is driving these guys in a poor direction. It’s not the direction that their voters wanted. It’s not what they campaigned on.”
13 comments
Mary Russell
May 12, 2025 at 1:00 pm
Set income limits to obtain school vouchers as high-income folks have abused the system & putting FL budget in peril. And as a FL taxpayer, I do not appreciate my taxes paying for religious or for-profit corporate owned private schools.
Along for the Ride
May 12, 2025 at 4:58 pm
Neither do I and yet our great supreme leader of FL feels otherwise. We need people to vote them out of office.
SuzyQ
May 12, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Notwithstanding, your party lost election after election after election. It was President Obama who said, “Elections have consequences.”
Oscar
May 12, 2025 at 7:55 pm
As a FL taxpayer I do not appreciate my taxes paying for criminal aliens, abortions, the able-bodied indigent, nonsensical green projects, universities that indoctrinate more than they educate, or pornography in schools and public libraries. The only solution is to cut government spending by 90% and get the government out of people’s business.
Michael K
May 12, 2025 at 11:24 pm
Your taxes. I pay taxes, too. Gay people pay taxes. Lots of taxes. I like academic freedom and history that is truth, not whitewashed. I support public education and teachers as professionals. I reject the incursion of any single religious belief into public sector and expect the separation of church and state. I expect public support for arts and culture and libraries, parks, open space and freedom of the press and commitments to racial and social justice. I support marriage equality and the right to protest.
In short, I am an American who believes in freedom for everyone, the Constitution and the rule of law.
FL Guy
May 12, 2025 at 1:48 pm
In a related story, “Bigot Governor Who Stole Ten Million in Medicaid Funds Has No Integrity and Zero Friends.”
Along for the Ride
May 12, 2025 at 4:58 pm
Still waiting for someone to investigate this
SuzyQ
May 12, 2025 at 5:36 pm
Another fake controversy manufactured and propagated for political purposes. No laws were broken. Therefore, there is nothing to investigate. Better luck next time. If there isn’t a next time, I trust it will be invented.
FL Guy
May 12, 2025 at 1:50 pm
Oops. I forgot he has a friend in Jason Weida. Of course he has zero integrity too and helped steal the money from Medicaid.
SuzyQ
May 12, 2025 at 5:34 pm
No taxpayer money was stolen.
Bill
May 13, 2025 at 8:01 am
Technically, you’re right. The money came from Centene and was creatively diverted to overturn a citizen lead ballot initiative to change the Florida Constitution and make weed legal. Like other commenters here, I’d like to keep the Government out of my business as well but somehow, Ronnie boy just can’t seem to help himself.
Along for the Ride
May 12, 2025 at 4:59 pm
I hope the government shuts down because that would make DeSantis mad and I really get a good laugh knowing that he is upset.
SuzyQ
May 12, 2025 at 5:32 pm
It still won’t facilitate your party winning a statewide election. Do you losers find it a consolation prize? LOL
Comments are closed.