Lawmakers demand Florida budget details from Gov. Scott

Gov. Rick Scott’s bold budget plan wasn’t even 24 hours old Tuesday before state legislators started ripping it apart and leveling a familiar charge against the governor: He wasn’t forthcoming with details.

Whether it was his billions in cuts to Medicaid or to schools, legislators said they weren’t sure what Scott specifically wanted to do in his budget, which would further widen a $3.6 billion shortfall next year due to nearly $2.4 billion in proposed tax cuts.

The criticisms and tough questions weren’t limited to Democrats; Scott’s fellow Republicans were skeptical of what many thought were skimpy details in his $65.9 billion budget.

The bipartisan concerns underscored a growing sense in the Legislature that Scott’s proposal is rooted in unrealistic political calculations, not the subtle calculus it takes to run the nation’s fourth-most populous state. In the House K-12 budget committee on Tuesday morning, eyebrows arched and heads shook as lawmakers tried digesting Scott’s plan to slash state-paid per-student spending by 10 percent.

“A 10 percent reduction is a significant cut,” said committee Chairwoman Marti Coley, R-Marianna.

Coley and Rep. Janet Adkins scolded Scott’s office for trying to "have it both ways" with the education budget. Scott said he’s against the use of federal stimulus money, but his office tacitly encourages school districts to use the money to boost per-pupil spending.

“It’s imperative that you go back and you redo the numbers,” said Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach.

In the House health appropriations committee, Republicans and Democrats flummoxed another Scott aide who had difficulties explaining his plans to cut $3 billion from Medicaid over two years.

Rep. Jose Diaz, R-Miami, said he struggling with the idea of deeply cutting the Department of Children and Families and privatizing mental-health facilities.

“My math tells me that the 2,500 jobs that you’re getting rid of only leads to a 4 percent reduction in the budget,” Diaz said. “It’s only an $8 million savings in an almost $3 billion budget. That seems like a significant loss of jobs for a very small gain.”

Scott had avoided many specifics on the campaign trail, and though his budget gave more details than ever, legislators wanted more.

The tough questions in the House were a sign the lower chamber of the Legislature might be less inclined to go along with Scott than the Senate, where Senate President Mike Haridopolos is running in what could be a crowded Republican Senate primary. There, fired-up tea-party activists could play an outsized role.

Scott, elected with strong tea party support, hopes activists change legislators’ minds. Scott wants them to pressure lawmakers to pass his budget, which he unveiled at a tea party rally in the rural town of Eustis. The governor urged the crowd of roughly 1,000 on Monday to pressure lawmakers on his budget.

"What I hope from you is that you get very active in this whole campaign," Scott said Monday. He said the state can’t afford its government and that the Legislature needs to adopt his “jobs budget.”

Later, in a semi-private dinner with three top Senate Republicans at the Governor’s Mansion, Scott urged the lawmakers to “just pass it [the budget],” according to a report posted on the Fine Print blog, which also noted that Scott’s chief policy advisor told the lawmakers that the eyes of the nation will be looking at the Republican Legislature to see if it enacts Scott’s "fiscally conservative" budget.

Ridley Scott Plans User-Generated YouTube DocumentaryScott faces deepening statewide budget gap