Usa Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020

Floor Speech

The coronavirus pandemic is a significant and life-altering time in our Nation. Our country and our economy will never be the same. This is absolutely a challenging time for every level of government.

We continue to work together to try and help the small businesses and individuals that are hurting and to get our economy back open as soon as possible.

This crisis was unprecedented, and Congress took bold action to stem the spread of the virus and save our economy. But if we are not careful, Congress will create another, equally devastating crisis down the road--a crisis of our own making.

Our national debt and deficits--already at sustainable levels--have skyrocketed as Congress has spent almost $3 trillion to address this crisis. At some point, we need to start thinking about the impact this spending will have on our country's financial future and the future of our children and our grandchildren.

As I mentioned during my remarks last week, I appreciate the spirit of my colleague's proposal and understand his desire to help his State. I know he cares as deeply for Louisiana as I do about Florida. I want to help States too, which is why I support maintaining the existing restrictions tied to the Coronavirus Relief Fund that were included in the CARES Act. While imperfect, the Coronavirus Relief Fund makes sure spending is for coronavirus response.

Regardless of whether we are removing the existing guardrails or talking about completely new funding, both actions would result in a blank-check bailout for States.

Let's remember that we are talking about $150 billion. To put that in perspective, the median income per capita in Florida is about $30,000, and $150 billion will pay the total annual income for more than 5 million Floridians.

Let's talk about who we are bailing out. It is not those on unemployment. We took care of them in the CARES Act. It is not our teachers. We took care of them in the CARES Act. It is not our healthcare workers. We took care of them in the CARES Act. We are bailing out liberal politicians who cannot live within their means, and now we are asking Floridians to pay for the incompetency of Governors like Andrew Cuomo.

We can't give hard-earned taxpayer money to poorly managed States that are going to turn around and spend it on their liberal priorities and to backfill their budget shortfalls and solve their longstanding fiscal problems.

States like California, Illinois, and New York have big budgets, high taxes, and tons of debt because they refused to make the hard choices and live within their means. They know they cannot tax their citizens more. So now they have their hands out to the Federal taxpayers to rescue them. But that is not fair to citizens of States like Florida, where we made the hard choices.

Let me show you this chart. From 1985 to 2018, this is how many people moved to Florida from other States. We gained over 2 million people. This is how many people left New York, Illinois, and California.

Why did they leave? Partially, because they may like our weather better. But look at the tax rates. They are way higher in these States. Look at their business climate. Those three States are the three worst in the country. Look at what the Tax Foundation ranking is--some of the worst States in the country.

Then look at the debt. We have more people than New York by about 2 to 3 million people, and their debt is seven times as much. As for Illinois, we are at least double, and they have almost three times as much debt.

You look at this, and this is why income is moving to our State and away from these States. Now these States want us to tax our citizens to pay for their debt, their pensions, for all of their fiscal irresponsibility, and that is not fair to the citizens of our State

When I became Florida's Governor in 2011, we had a big budget shortfall, and we had lost 832,000 jobs in 4 years. When I became Governor, we started cutting taxes every year. We cut $10 billion over 8 years. And guess what. Our revenues increased. The State went from losing hundreds of thousands of jobs over 4 years to adding 1.7 million jobs in 8 years. We turned a $2.5 billion shortfall into a $4 billion surplus, with $3 billion in a rainy day fund.

I was the first Florida Governor in 20 years to actually pay down State debt. I paid down--with the support of my legislature and the success of our State--one-third of our State debt in 8 years.

That didn't happen in California. It didn't happen in Illinois, and it didn't happen in New York.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was irresponsible and reckless not to bail out States like his--a State with 2 million fewer people than Florida, with a budget almost double ours. The opposite is true. It is irresponsible and reckless to take money from America's taxpayers and use it to save liberal politicians from the consequences of their poor choices.

Every day, American families make responsible budgetary decisions. Well-managed States like Florida have done it for years. It is time for New York, Illinois, and California to do the same.

As you can see from this chart, Congress has already allocated billions of dollars in direct and indirect aid to States and localities. Total direct funding from the Federal Government already exceeds over $1 trillion, and this doesn't begin to count another $1.3 trillion in indirect assistance to small businesses, individuals, and increased unemployment benefits to families in all of our States.

We have $150 billion. Again, it is billions of dollars for expenses. By the way, this is not the way it is done with FEMA. This money has been sent with no obligation of the States to pay a portion. When I had my hurricanes, I had to pay a portion of the cost that the Federal government would participate in, but we still paid a part of the cost.

We have $500 billion in short-term loans for municipal governments; $45 billion in FEMA disaster funds; $30 billion for education, without knowing whether education costs went up or down; $34 billion for mass transit community grants; $270 billion under the appropriations, on top of the indirect funding. So we have not ``not sent'' a lot of money to the States already.

I appreciate that the Senator from Louisiana is seeking a vote on this proposal. However, this legislation has not been considered by any committee. Although I think we both agree that the CARES Act was far from perfect, Congress must work methodically before we make large- scale changes such as those proposed by my colleague.

We have to get absolutely serious about how we are spending taxpayer money and the fact that this year's Federal budget deficit will be the largest in the history of our Nation.

I have seven grandchildren. Four of them are watching here today: Auguste, Eli, Quinton and Sebastian. I have no interest in saddling them or children like them across the country with mountains of debt. To do so would not only be a political failure; it would be an abdication of our moral responsibility.

It is time that we make the hard choices to put our Nation on a path to recovery--recovery from this virus, from the economic devastation it has brought with it, and from the fiscal calamity that decades of politicians have ignored.

I hope my colleagues will join me in this fight to keep our country's future bright.

I, therefore, respectfully object.

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