WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott announced several amendments to the Senate’s “infrastructure” package that he will introduce to protect Florida families by ensuring the $1.2 trillion package is fully paid for and that Congress is accountable to American taxpayers.

Senator Rick Scott said, “I support spending on real infrastructure, like roads, bridges, airport and seaports, but it has to be fully paid for with real money. We did it when I was governor of Florida and we can do it in Washington. It’s time Congress acknowledges that spending hundreds of billions of dollars we don’t have threatens the future of our nation. This infrastructure spending bill is the gateway to President Biden and the Democrats’ massive $5.5 trillion tax and spend proposal that will destroy our nation’s success. Reckless government spending is already causing out of control inflation across the nation. We have to start acting responsibly, which is why I’m introducing amendments to make sure the spending in this bill is fully paid for and that it will not increase inflation on hardworking Floridians.”

Senator Scott’s amendments to the “transportation” package include:

• Protecting Floridians’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars by requiring that each ‘pay-for’ in the bill first be certified to have been collected, deposited, and transferred to the appropriate account before any money authorized or appropriated by this bill can be spent.
• Fighting against rising inflation by requiring the Congressional Budget Office to certify that the spending in this bill will not increase inflation on the American people.
• Putting American safety first by cutting funds to state and local governments that choose to defund the police. This amendment requires that, if a state or local government decreased its spending on law enforcement and public safety over the past year, then any mass transit funding allocated to that government would be reduced by the same amount.
• Protecting Florida’s seniors from Medicare cuts by removing provisions which cut Medicare funding to pay for infrastructure projects.
• Ensuring Florida and all states are treated equally by allocating transportation and infrastructure spending based on state population.
• State and local match requirements to help ensure Americans get the best possible return on their taxpayer dollars. This amendment creates buy-in from state and local governments by requiring that any new programs created by the bill include a minimum state and local match requirement of 50 percent.

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