TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's next House speaker says that the budget put together by him and other Republican leaders is full of wasteful spending that he is now promising to cut.
Rep. Richard Corcoran said Monday that while the GOP has been in complete control of state government for close to 20 years, too many legislators spend "money like a teenager in the mall with a first-time credit card." He said the state is misspending money on items such as tourism advertising.
Corcoran, an attorney who will become House Speaker in November, made his comments in the wake of a new forecast that shows the state will have a surplus of only $7.5 million during the fiscal year that starts in July 2017. That forecast shows a substantial budget gap of $1.3 billion in 2018 if nothing is done.
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