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Scott Rejects $2.4 Billion In Federal Funding For Florida High Speed Rail
February 16, 2011
Saying the government cannot spend more than it takes in, Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday rejected the federal government’s $2.4 billion offer to bring high speed rail to Florida saying the ridership studies don’t support an effort that he says is not in the best interest of the state.
Speaking to reporters at a hastily called news conference, Scott blasted the Obama administration specifically and federal government in general for spending policies that make the United States and Florida uncompetitive.
Scott, who has always been wary of funding the Tampa to Orlando project, had said recently he would consider letting it go forward if private money could be found to match the federal effort. If the project were to operate in the red, Florida would be on the hook, Scott said.
Federal officials and state lawmakers plotted an uncertain path to revive high speed rail in Florida Wednesday after Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion that was on the table for a Tampa-to-Orlando bullet train with little notice.
Scott joined newly-elected Republican governors in two other states in rebuffing President Barack Obama’s effort to build a nationwide network of trains, leaving U.S. House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica of Orlando looking for a plan B.
“We haven’t raised the white flag of surrender on the project,” Mica said in a conference call. “We’re going to explore every option, the secretary (of transportation) said he would review all of his options. But at this particular point, quite frankly I don’t know what they are.”
The bewilderment ran from the nation’s capitol to Tallahassee, when Democrats and quite of few of Scott’s fellow ruling Republicans fumed that the new governor had left them in the dark in his decision to turn out the lights on the long-sought high speed rail project. The chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Jack Latvala, said that he spoke with Scott yesterday, at the governor’s request, and he was not informed of the decision.
“I didn’t get any notice of it,” a clearly disappointed Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, told the News Service of Florida. “I’m disappointed because I was in his office…discussing transportation issues and I had no idea this was coming nor did he ask for my opinion.”
Like Mica, Latvala said the Legislature would explore its options for reviving the off-again, on-again, off-again train, though he said Scott was within his right to reject the money.
“The implementation is in the department (of transportation),” he said. “We appropriated about $300 million for the project. He can choose not to spend it.”
Though governors in Wisconsin and Ohio made splashy announcements when they rejected rail money shortly after winning office in November, neither of those states were offered 90 percent of the projected cost of their proposed trains like Florida was for its Tampa to Orlando line. That made Scott’s decision the highest profile rejection yet of the White House’s push to get the country on board with rail, and other states quickly began jockeying for the money.
The most likely recipient is California, which was the only state that topped Florida’s award in federal rail money over the last two years.
But Mica said that the Florida Congressional Delegation was going to see if they could stop that from happening.
“The (U.S. transportation) secretary and I have decided to look at our options, by end of the week and soon as the highly paid folks analyze them,” a new plan will be formed, Mica said.
The timing of Scott’s announcement clearly caught lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee off-guard, but it was a decision he has hinted at since taking office in January. Making it official Wednesday, Scott said he just thought it was too risky for Florida taxpayers to let the train roll.
“As you know, my background is in business, not politics. But you don’t have to be economic experts to understand if you spend more than you take in, you will fail,” Scott said in a hastily-arranged news conference. “Government has become addicted to spending beyond its means, and we cannot continue to do that, in Washington or in Tallahassee.”
“President Obama’s high speed rail program is not the answer for Florida’s economic recovery,” Scott continued. “The answer is to reduce government spending, cut government’s reach on our state’s job creators and then hold that government accountable for the investments it makes. That is what I was elected to do…and that’s how I’m going to govern the state of Florida.”
Scott said three factors made him put the brakes on the rail project, including the potential for construction cost overruns, which he said could put the state on the hook for $3 billion dollars. Also problematic, Scott said, is that train ridership and revenue estimates have been historically overly optimistic and the fact that Florida would have had to return the money to Washington if it decided at a later date to stop the project. Scott noted that the existing Tri-Rail commuter train in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties receives subsidies from the state.
“I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits,” Scott said. “My job is to represent the taxpayers of this state, and I’m not comfortable that this project we ought to be doing, it’s not a project that I’m comfortable is going to get return for the investors and I represent the investors of Florida, the taxpayers.”
Democrats nationally and in Florida sharply criticized Scott’s decision as being short-sighted.
“If Florida would’ve had a governor who rejected President Eisenhower’s idea, we wouldn’t have an interstate system,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who has been vocally supportive of the project even as conservatives attacked him for it, said via Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
“Since taking office, the governor has done a great job at shutting down transportation projects which would have kept employed or put to work thousands of Floridians,” Florida Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich, D-Westin, said in a statement. “The decision to reject Washington’s offer to return billions in our tax dollars to pay the bulk of a high speed rail project between Orlando and Tampa being the latest. ‘Let’s get to work’ is starting to ring hollow in the face of a resilient 12 percent unemployment rate.”
Scott’s decision is likely to play well with the tea party movement in Florida that powered his political rise, but another key element of the Republican establishment has vocally backed the project: the state’s business lobby. One of the state’s main business advocacy groups, Associated Industries of Florida, pushed lawmakers to pass legislation in special session in 2009 that enabled the construction of another train in Orlando, SunRail, to show federal transportation officials they were serious about rail. The organization carefully chose its words to express its disappointment in Scott’s decision, but ultimate support of the governor.
“While Associated Industries of Florida has been a proponent of bringing high speed rail to Florida, and was hopeful we could do so with the backing of private-sector investment, we understand and respect Gov. Scott’s decision to reject the Tampa to Orlando project,” AIF President Barney Bishop said in a statement. “Given these tough economic times and a past culture of deficit spending, we recognize that Floridians do not have an open checkbook and we as a state cannot afford to operate on credit.”
The rejection from the new governor was another big blow to a project that is well on its way to having as many lives as any cat in Florida. A high speed train connecting central and South Florida was originally placed in the Florida Constitution by voters in 2000, but it was removed by the same electorate in 2004 after a successful campaign backed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, who argued the state could not afford it.
Backers had hoped that the promise of most of the money being paid for by the federal government would be enough to really get the train rolling this time, but by Wednesday, proponents of the plan were making comparisons to sinking boats.
“The ship has taken on a broad side hit,” U.S. Rep. Mica said. “It hasn’t sunk. It has taken on a lot of water. We’re seeing if the vessel can be salvaged.”
Supporters said the train could have begun running in 2015. As recently as last week, state transportation officials were telling a Florida House committee that they were optimistic the federal government might provide up to 80 percent of a second leg of the train from Orlando to Miami that was projected to be even more costly than the central Florida portion.
But Scott was never a believer.
“Here’s my experience in business: if you enter into a project where it’s not a good transaction for the other side, it always come back to be a problem for you,” he said. “You look at ridership studies; I don’t see any way anyone’s going to get a return, so I’m very concerned about the Florida taxpayers.”
Pictured: Gov. Rick Scott speaks to reporters Wednesday shortly after notifying U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that he would reject $2.4 billion in federal money to build a high speed rail system in the state. Photo by Michael Peltier for NorthEscambia,com, click to enlarge.
Comments
28 Responses to “Scott Rejects $2.4 Billion In Federal Funding For Florida High Speed Rail”
The Gov. did the right thing.The train is rediculous idea.It is Not what Florida needs.2.4 bil?just to go from Tampa to Orlando..come on people.With a national debt like we got ,growing everyday.So I guess the people who think this is a good idea are probably the same type of people who’s house is in foreclosure,but go out and buy a new car…Right?
I agree with the writer who said DC’s money is our money. If you don’t agree, you must be a…tax evader…? There is $14 Trillion unaccounted for in bailout money–the oversight committee failed to oversee it. Let’s stop trying to make the dollar fail, and realize that ‘we are the greatest nation’ doesn’t hold water if we are so irresponsible as to continue deeply into debt without prudence. Let’s don’t push it, and BTW if you were famous, what would the media and pundits be publishing about you?
I agree with you, Timber John on the point you make. Just because we might not see the more obvious benefits here in the panhandle does not mean high speed rail would not be good for the state and the nation. when it comes to two of our main competitors, China is catching us in infrastructure in leaps and bounds and India recognizes the importance of infrastructure while our roads decay and our bridges crumble.
But if the article here is correct and Scott’s words are true we could very well be on the hook for a lot more than 2.6 billion dollars and it would be easy to envision a project like this running over by years and billions. If we *had* the money, yes. But we just don’t. If , on the other hand, we had the money that Scott’s company stole from Medicare….
It’s easy to live in the Panhandle and think a rail line between Tampa and Orlando is wasteful spending. But if you ever lived in Tampa you’d realize that this is the kind of project that makes sense! It could reduce traffic congestion, reduce pollution and create jobs. So yeah… lets kill it.
Way to go Gov. Scott!
Europe has much higher population density. I liked Le Metro in Paris but Florida ain’t no Paris, so to speak
David thinking apples aren’t oranges
If you like the trains and style of government in Europe, by all means, feel free to move there. I think our founding fathers rejected their style of governing over two hundred years ago. IT’S AMERICA …WE ARE BROKE. It has to stop NOW.
Just a quick note to those who site Europe as having the rail system in place. They are broke also spent themselves into the ground. Not just from the rail systems but over spending on projects like this and the tax rates the citzens pay is huge. So our adminstration needs to get with in the budget and live by it. They are and have been speding more than we take in. Can not last at this pace. So, I have to agree with the Govenor this time good chioice.
hate to break the news to you old soldier…that other peoples money is in reality YOURs and MY money…unless of course you dont pay federal income tax?
you pick from the choices offered
Just google this guy’s name , it boggel’s my mind that this theif and fraud was elected to our states highest office.
Way to go, Gov. Scott! We need to reject all out-of-control spending!
Nothing says “shoddy” like AMTRAK. Has anyone actually ridden a gub-mint run train? I have.
The Feds want the Citizens of Florida to take “free” OPiuM (Other People’s Money) and get addicted to it like they are in DC. Then when it comes time to pay for it? Well, (hat in hand) “more OPM please?”…
The United States of America is BROKE and we cannot ever SPEND our way to prosperity. We can’t print out the dollars to pay for it without devaluing every other dollar out there in American pockets, and savings accounts.
Don’t buy the Liberal Lies.
I thank God every day for Govenor Rick Scott, and can only imagine the horrid debt problem we avoided by not electing Sink or McCollum, both OPM addicts.
my opinion is that scott made the right decision at this time…the president, fed govt and many non-conservative politicians dont quite get it YET….this rail system is not a necessity to floridians right now…WE CANT AFFORD IT!
Well, I kinda gotta go with Ricky on this one. I haven’t studied this issue very closely, primarily because I thought from the beginning it would never happen. This has been kicking around for a good while now and it’s pretty much always been wishful thinking.
But what really sold me on Scott’s position was the thought of “potential for cost overruns”. That’s a term that it seems that I’ve heard before on defense projects as well as public works. I don’t have any hard figures but just speaking figuratively, it seems that “potential for cost overruns” usually means “cost overruns”.
With my limited understanding of this issue, I have always wondered why companies were not held more accountable for their bids.
The other thing is…who is going to ride this train? I remember the outcry when Escambia County was talking about suspending bus service between Century and Pensacola. Yet most of the folks I spoke to had never even considered riding the bus. Not a scientific sample I know but enough for me to question keeping the bus in service, at least with my small contribution. Would the Tampa to Orland train be similar?
Ya got me.
Absolutely the right thing to do.
The courage to stand up against the selling of our children into slavery
has GOT to start somewhere.
Not spend billions of borrowed dollars to build a train few would use and for which all would pay??
How dare he?
David tempted to agree on this decision
Did the voters of Florida approve the high speed rail by referendum a couple years ago. Maybe that is another majority vote that does not count??????
Wonder why he kept this a secret from everyone until the last minute? Shouldn’t he have shared his thoughts with other elected officers? But then this is the man who stole millions of dollars from Medicare/Medicaid. Maybe he has aspirations of the presidency. If he does I only hope the rest of the country has more marbles than the Florida voters who put him in our governors office.
We don’t use trains here because we don’t have them like other countries do. We are spoiled Americans who own 2 or more vehicles per family. Other countries are way ahead of us on this and I am afraid we will stay in our gas guzzling state until we can no longer get oil from the Middle East. Of course then everyone will be asking why our elected officials did nothing to get us out of the situation.
This is not a transportation project, but a vote-buying job project. Neither the feds nor the State of Florida have the money to properly complete this project. Americans do not ride trains for a multitude of reasons unlike Europe. The governor is correct that the taxpayers would be stuck with paying for this dinosaur well into the future. Maybe tens years from now it might be viable,but a good decision was made for the Florida taxpayers at this time.
we dont need a fast train , besides some raghead would derail it.
Scott did good !
We are broke, 14.5 trillion in the hole, the President has lost his mind!! Great call Rick, No country has survived with half the debt we have!! Still he just keeps spending our hopes, dreams and our future like it’s play money!!!
I think Europe ( Germany – France – England etc ) have the best trains , they are all fast and clean . I also noticed the cargo trains. They all fast too. No cargo or
passenger train travels as slow then here . I believe the Governor acted to hastily
in rejecting the billions of Fed Funds . The future is a fast and dependable train
system . They should be fast and operate on good maintained tracks . I hope
the Governor changes his mind . The time to build is now . Take the Fed . Funds
ang get it over with.
When we all went to the polls, we had been warned by most FL newspapers, lots of political ads, and even CNN weighed in.
oh gov scott arent you something? so conservative you cannot see the forest for the trees. we are trying to move into the future, our infrastructure is crumbling around us and you want us to gobble down the seeds instead of planting. way to go scott. well let me tell you something mr high and mighty…there are plenty of other states that will jump at the chance for this money…
Something is not right here..2.4 BILLION..our country is already behind when it comes to modern day transportation..HIGH SPEED is the future…whats wrong with Scott..OMG man….a good shot in the arm for Florida and he does not want the cure…send it to Alabama…we will spend it for sure…there are plenty of good ol boys around here wanting to work…and the others are wanting to go to work VERY FAST..HIGH SPEED…think about the possibilities…the domino affect
OOOOOH WELLLLL
Yeah who needs jobs in florida anyway, NY is now asking for Florida’s part that they just rejected
I think this is being short sighted. It has been over twenty years since I drove the interstates between Pensacola to Orlando, and from Orlando to Tampa, and other destinations, and the highways could be a nightmare then. At the rate of population growth, you’ll never be able to build or widen roads fast enough, nor have the resources to maintain them. Sooner or later alternates need to be in place, and I’m sure Gov. Scott looked at the direct costs at current or near future costs but did he look at the cost of what it’ll take to maintain a transportation infrastructure without alternatives? The price of congestion? The sky is getting so crowded and the costs associated with flying are making that not as attractive, especially with the time involved in checking in.
What happened to the US leading the way in technology? Europe, China and Japan are leaving us behind in technology, alternative energy research, and even in basic studies in science, math and other studies.