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House and Senate Democrats try to get out-front on commuter rail
For most of the last two years, Florida Democrats in the Legislature have been largely opposed to the Central Florida commuter-rail deal -- with the exception of folks like Reps. Darren Soto, Scot Randolph and Geraldine Thompson from the Orlando area.
But now that the feds have given Florida an ultimatum if it hopes to land high-speed rail dollars, House and Senate Democratic leadership, along with AFL-CIO and others, are getting behind a combined package that would help SunRail, Tri-Rail and the high-speed rail plans.
Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, and House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, issued a joint release Thursday calling on the Republican leadership to get rolling on the finer points of a plan to tap part of the $8 billion in federal economic stimulus money available for high-speed rail.
The release notes that "Although Senate President Jeff Atwater supports the call for a special session to address Florida’s commuter rail, House Speaker Larry Cretul remains uncommitted."
“I share Senate President Jeff Atwater’s sense of urgency on this matter,” Lawson said in the statement. “Florida leads the nation in the number of residents unemployed. Washington is offering eight billion ways to put our people back to work. Whatever obstacles still remain in building a legislative consensus, I urge the leadership to resolve them.”
“Florida Democrats are committed to job creation,” said Sands. “If commuter rail offers the promise of new economic opportunity and transportation innovation, then Florida’s legislative leaders need not further delay. It is time to stop the political stall tactics. The last thing that out-of-work Floridians want to hear today is nay-saying and excuses from Tallahassee. They want to hear how to get this done.”
Fact-check: The House actually passed a commuter-rail bill two years ago, and Cretul has been slow to commit to a special session to see if the Senate -- where the votes have failed to materialize -- can get its act together first. Sands was also one of the 39 'No' votes in the House back in 2008.
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