The Florida Senate

State Senator Bobby Powell (D-West Palm Beach) issued the following statement in response to the governor’s heavy-handed vetoes of critically needed projects in the state spending plan: 

“The people who can least afford these cuts to vital infrastructure, maintenance, and educational programs and projects are the ones who suffered the greatest losses. These callous and cruel cuts weren’t delivered by a man who weighed the pros and cons before axing a project. These cuts were made by a man who caters to the select few who bolster his political ambitions, and ignores the majority left to fend for themselves.

 “In his veto message, the governor writes ‘governments should strive to do more with less.’ I couldn’t agree more. But ‘more with less’ is not what’s going on here. Not when a politically connected company reaps $50 million to construct an empty warehouse. Not when the governor’s makeshift base camp sucks down $20 million in taxpayer dollars for immigrants who never materialize.

 “The projects the governor cut weren’t backed by billionaires. They weren’t part of a quid pro quo system that scratches the governor’s back when he scratches theirs. They’re the firefighters, the public works employees, the volunteers, the average citizens who depend on this help to build a better state. And they’re the ones left holding the bag when the governor’s axe falls.”