After negotiations over the state budget between the GOP House and Senate leadership broke down Friday, the Florida Republican Party of Florida stepped in, proposing to host a summit between Gov. Ron DeSantis, Speaker Daniel Perez, and Senate President Ben Albritton.
The talks would include senior staff and leadership teams in a bid for a common path forward as the two chambers remain billions of dollars apart due to competing tax cut proposals.
But DeSantis said Monday that he’s not interested.
“With all due respect though, that’s not the role of the Republican Party of Florida,” he said in response to a question asked by a Phoenix reporter during a press conference in Tampa.
“And so no, we’re not going to do a dog and pony show. That’s not the way this works. The way it works is people should do their jobs.
“Now my role in the process is to sign or veto the budget as a whole but also individual line items in the budget, so there may be things that I’ll say — ‘Hey, this is something that I’m going to be looking for’ — and obviously the Legislature needs to take that into account. But the reality is the House leadership has kind of careened off course the whole session, not just on the budget, let’s just be clear. This has been the whole session this has happened. ”
DeSantis has been relentless in blasting the Florida House over the past month, initially over a committee’s investigation into the Hope Florida Foundation, the initiative connected to DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis. The bitter rancor has now moved on to the House’s support for a major sales tax cut. DeSantis and his supporters have instead been pushing for lawmakers to cut property taxes.
DeSantis spent considerable time Monday when asked about the situation between the two chambers to boast about how he’s handled the state budget during his six-plus years in Tallahassee. He said that, under his leadership, he’s been able to reduce the state’s debt by 41% but also made important investments in law enforcement, transportation, environmental restoration, and education.
‘Just keep doing what we’ve been doing’
“You don’t need a summit to just keep doing what we’ve been doing,” he said. “And I think if you look at my budget, we build off the success that we’ve had. I don’t know what’s gone on in terms of the breakdown [between the House and Senate]. I wasn’t a part of those negotiations per se, because, quite frankly, the Senate and the House go back and forth on these things. But I can tell you, the voters want us to continue doing what we’ve done. To build off the success, to meet challenges that are before us, and to put their interests first.”
In his statement released on Friday afternoon, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power suggested a summit would present an opportunity for the state’s GOP leaders to “collaborate, unite, and deliver relief and lasting results for Florida families.”
“Our Republican leaders are deeply committed to this state and have bold ideas to keep Florida thriving,” Power said. “Bringing everyone to the table will help us focus on our shared priorities — fiscal responsibility, tax relief, and a balanced budget.”
While there is no date yet when the full Legislature will return to Tallahassee to take up the budget impasse, the House is scheduled to meet on Tuesday for a floor session to pass a concurrent resolution extending the timeline to continue budget negotiations through the end of June. The new fiscal year opens on July 1.
Also, the 37-member House committee formed to study the possibility of reducing or eliminating property taxes in the state is also scheduled to convene.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Leave a Reply