DeSantis signs trimmed budget, vetoes nearly $1 billion

Gov Ron DeSantis signed a $116.5 billion state budget into law Wednesday after cutting $1 billion worth of local projects and other initiatives, boasting that Florida is able to do more with less money than other states and the federal government.

“We are glad to meet needs and keep spending under control, something the people in Washington can learn from,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Tampa, where he took shots at the Biden administration, blaming the president for the state’s inflation and subsequent belt-tightening.

Of the nearly $1 billion in vetoes, DeSantis said, “some are wasteful or not appropriate for state tax dollars.”

He did not provide specific examples during his press conference and didn’t release his vetoes until late in the afternoon, which prompted an angry response from Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried who said the timing was a “blatant attempt to keep the press from reporting on them today.”