(The following report appeared on the Lakeland Ledger website on October 6.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, filed an amendment to the proposed state budget cuts heard in the Florida Senate on Friday that would have cut $491 million in state funds for construction of the CSX terminal in Winter Haven.
But minutes later he withdrew the amendment, along with one questioning $80 million for the University of Miami’s Institute of Human Genomics.
The amendments cutting funding of state capital projects was an attempt by Democrats to make a point with the Republican-controlled Legislature that there are many projects other than social programs that can be cut.
Lawson questioned the wisdom of funding the CSX project and several other big-dollar projects at the same time lawmakers were having to cut back other programs.
“At the same time, CSX gets a windfall of $491 million, or about a half billion dollars,” Lawson said.
After making his point, Lawson withdrew his amendments and the budget-cutting bill passed.