Florida Gov. Unveils Huge Cuts Before Tea Party

EUSTIS, Florida - Florida's new governor on Monday proposed slashing state spending by more than $5 billion while cutting taxes by more than $4 billion over two years.

Republican Governor Rick Scott also said at a gathering of Tea Party activists in rural central Florida that healthcare reforms in his budget proposal would save Florida's hard-pressed state government nearly $4 billion over two years, according to a news release. Florida's budget now runs about $70 billion annually.

The highlights of his budget, according to material passed out prior to Scott's speech include:
 

• Devoting $800 million over two years for economic development projects;
• Cutting $660 million by streamlining government through renegotiating contracts and leases;
• Save $120 million over two years by consolidating functions, reorganizing and privatizing;
• $150 million over two years by eliminating programs "not part of government's core mission";
• Cut $4 billion over two years in Medicaid by "creating a patient directed system";
• Save $600 million in corrections costs through "innovating management of juvenile offenders and 147 state prisons."
• Education: maintain funding, no cuts.