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Crist at odds with Cretul budget approach

"Good thing I'm not in the House!" Gov. Charlie Crist exclaimed Tuesday evening. He said that to a gaggle of reporters at the Governor's Mansion after learning of a House negotating posture that consisted of accepting the Senate's higher tax package if the Senate would agree to the House's deeper cuts.

Crist has been pretty consistent that he wants to minimize cuts to programs and he doesn't like raising taxes, and the House embraced both. The governor was asked  if the House leadership needed his advice to negotiate differently.

"I've already done that. I did so this afternoon," Crist said, noting that in 2011, revenue estimates project an additional $1-billion in tax collections and $2-billion in 2012. "It's our duty to deal with the facts we're presented with today. I appreciate wanting to budget in the long term, but we have to live day to day, given the circumstances."

House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, has characterized the state's budget fix as a three-year challenge, but Crist rejected that approach: "Neither of us has a crystal ball," he said.

-- Steve Bousquet

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