advertisement

---

After Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced yesterday he was rejecting federal funds for the Tampa-Orlando high-speed rail project, elected officials from Florida — both Democrats and Republicans — issued statements reacting to the announcement. Those comments, which were released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, follow:

• Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee: “This is a huge setback for the state of Florida, our transportation, economic development, and important tourism industry. I have urged the governor to reconsider going forward and allow the private sector to assume the risk and any future costs for the project. With the federal government assuming 90 percent of the cost of the project, I am disappointed the private sector will not have an opportunity to even offer innovative proposals to help finance the balance of the costs and to construct and operate this system.”

• Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.): “I am simply outraged by Florida Gov. Scott’s decision to reject $2.5 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail in Florida. Clearly, the governor is not interested in either advancing Florida’s transportation network or creating quality jobs for Florida residents. Up until today, the state of Florida was in a perfect position to serve as the nation’s trailblazer in our country's renaissance of high-speed passenger rail, yet now, with the Governor’s decision, we will continue to be the caboose.

• Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa): “High-speed rail is projected to create thousands and thousands of jobs in our state. The governor's campaign slogan was 'let's get to work,' but his refusal to accept vital investment dollars eliminates the opportunity to put thousands of Floridians to work in construction, engineering, architecture and most all areas of Florida's economy.”

• Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer: “I am hopeful that Gov. Scott will reconsider his position on this issue and choose to work together toward a day when high-speed rail will be a reality for Floridians. High-speed rail for all Florida is a project that was created collectively and supported by broad coalitions of our state’s residents, businesses and lawmakers. It would only seem reasonable that a decision to cancel a once-in-a-generation project of this magnitude would be made collaboratively, rather than unilaterally by Florida’s new chief executive.”

• Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio: “This is one of the worst decisions that I have ever seen in my 26 years of public life. This is a decision that is clearly based on ideology and not on the facts. Because if it was based on facts, the facts support it 100 percent. Why in the world would the governor take $2.3 billion worth of investment in our great state and hand it to another state? Why would any governor do that?”

• State Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland): “It was my hope and expectation that the governor would have allowed these teams to submit proposals before pulling the plug on this true public-private partnership that had little risk to the state and tremendous return to Floridians.”

• State Sen. Jack Latvala (R-St. Petersburg), Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee: “Making this decision, at this point, on a project that could mean 12,000 to 14,000 jobs is very premature. We’ve cut off our nose to spite our face.”