Senate moves budget bill, Dems vote no

The Florida Senate Ways and Means committee passed their budget cuts on Thursday morning, voting 14-7 with Democrats voting against it. Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando was the only Democrat to vote for the bill. "The cuts to human services are really catastrohic," Sen. Nan Rich said. "I believe we should have found a way to prevent our most vulneralbe from being hurt by this budget. Unfortunatly we have not found a way to do so." In both chambers, education and health car take the deepest hits. So far, one of the bigger sticking points between the House and the Senate is how to raid the Lawton Chiles fund. The Senate takes a bigger first bite: $700 million from the Lawton Chiles fund. However, the money can't be taken before June 10.