Gov. Scott ready to scrap tax breaks, school cash
The battle among Florida’s Republican leaders over covering uninsured residents looks ready to claim state taxpayers and school kids as the latest political victims.
Appearing Monday night on FOX-TV’s On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Scott said he expected his call for $673 million in tax breaks and a record high level of per-pupil funding to be scrapped when lawmakers return in June for a special session.
Scott has sued the Obama administration, trying to get federal officials to continue giving the state $1.3 billion for Florida hospitals who treat the uninsured. Scott contends the Health and Human Services Department has tied the state’s approval of a Florida Senate-backed form of privatized Medicaid expansion with any chance for hospital cash.
Scott and the House have refused to endorse the Senate’s expansion plan. With the possible loss of hospital dollars deadlocking budget talks, Van Susteren told Scott he’s got a “perfect storm in a very bad way.”
What will Scott do, she asked.
“What I think is going to happen is that we have a continuation budget,” Scott said.
He added, “We’ll just do what we’ve done this last year. We won’t put more money into schools, which I wanted to do, we won’t cut taxes, which I wanted to do. We’ll just leave the money there and deal with it our next session, which starts in January.”
Scott offered no more specifics. But the governor’s outline suggests that at least hundreds of millions of dollars of Florida taxpayer money will be used to plug the hole likely left by the standoff over Medicaid expansion.
If some federal dollars become available later — by the Obama administration granting a reduced amount of hospital aid — Scott and lawmakers may look to revise the patchwork spending plan he envisions being enacted in June.
Meanwhile, Scott appears ready to write off his bid for $673 million in tax breaks — including a consumer-friendly phone and TV tax reduction — and bringing average spending on each school kid to school kids to $7,176, surpassing the 2007-08 record mark by $50.
