WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, Senator Rick Scott wrote an op-ed for the New York Post on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s refusal to accept responsibility for his years of budget mismanagement, and instead choosing to beg the federal government for a bailout at the expense of Florida taxpayers.

In the op-ed, Senator Rick Scott wrote, “Recently, Gov. Andrew Cuomo used one of his daily news briefings to attack me. He’s been doing that a lot lately. And again, he begged for a bailout from the federal government to fund his years of fiscal mismanagement. He argued that his state gives more to the federal government than it gets in return and that Florida gets more than it pays in. Therefore, Floridians should be sympathetic to his demand for a bailout.

There is just one problem with the governor’s line of argument: It’s a bald-faced lie.

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Here’s what’s actually happening.

When New Yorkers get sick of paying not just their federal taxes, but the high state and sales taxes Cuomo loves, they move down to Florida, where the state taxes are low. If they are eligible, like the millions enjoying retirement in Florida, they collect from Social Security and Medicare after years of paying into those federal programs while living in New York. They may have had a high-paying job in New York and finally wised up and realized they could save a lot more of their own money if they lived in Florida.

The result: Cuomo is now facing a massive shortfall in revenue. Because he didn’t plan for emergencies and use state tax dollars wisely, he wants to put every American on the hook, including those who fled his state, to bail him out.

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Instead of preparing and budgeting wisely, Cuomo has consistently misused taxpayer dollars and refused to ever cut government waste. Out-of-control-spending deals with labor unions, for example, result in New York tunneling projects costing three to four times more than those in Europe.

Cuomo has labeled my stand for fiscal responsibility ‘un-American.’ But I think fighting to preserve a fiscal future for the next generations is the most American thing I can do.”

Read the full op-ed in the New York Post HERE.

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