Tallahassee, Fla. /Florida Newswire/ — Senate President Haridopolos’ announcement that he is on board the rejection of the federal high speed rail boondoggle is great news. Like my jobs budget, saying no to high speed rail is about protecting Florida’s taxpayers and ensuring they keep more of their hard-earned money.
President Haridopolos recognizes that cost overruns from the project could put Florida taxpayers on the hook, ridership and revenue projections are historically overly-optimistic, and if the project becomes too costly for taxpayers and is shut down, the state would have to return the $2.4 billion in federal funds to D.C. These risks to Florida’s families are simply too great.
In addition, President Haridopolos is right to criticize the bloated spending of our federal government. In Washington, reckless spending continues as President Obama has brought forward a record deficit with his latest budget. That deficit would be added to a national debt that already exceeds $14 trillion. This mountain of debt impedes economic recovery and threatens America’s future. To get Florida and the nation back to work, we must get serious about ending this culture of debt and government waste. I am grateful to have President Haridopolos standing with me.
