TALLAHASSEE ? Calling for billions in tax and spending cuts, Gov. Rick Scott will unveil a budget Monday that's as much a policy road map as it is a sweeping political statement.
Even Scott's venue for rolling out the budget drips with political symbolism: a tea party rally he helped establish in the small rural town of Eustis, where activists also will celebrate a Florida court ruling against President Barack Obama's health plan.
Scott's first proposed budget is his best chance to make good on his campaign promise to run government like an efficient business. It also sets the tone of his relationship with the Legislature, which has to turn his plans into a balanced budget.
The $5 billion question: Is Scott's budget realistic?
Legislative leaders aren't sure, noting that next year's budget faces a shortfall of at least $3 billion and Scott proposes to make the hole even bigger by insisting on $2 billion in tax cuts. They want Scott to explain how much more they'll cut from schools, prisons, roads, courts, environmental programs, libraries, parks and health care.
"This is a political bombshell," said Glenn Robertson, who was budget director for Govs. Bob Graham and Bob Martinez, respectively a Democrat and Republican. "The key thing is how seriously he's taken."
"He'll probably get a lot of applause in Eustis. But the Legislature wants details, specifics."
Never before has the Republican-led Legislature cut $5 billion in one session. Over the past five years, though, lawmakers have trimmed a total of about $5 billion from one part of the budget, the general revenue section, which accounts for most major government services.
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