Diaz-Balart: Obama did Castro a huge favor

Lincoln Diaz-Balart took to the House floor last night, describing the recent Summit of the Americas -- in which President Barack Obama exchanged greetings with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez -- "constituted an embarrassment for this hemisphere. 

"What the world witnessed at last weekend’s 'Summit of the Americas'  was a culmination of years of preparation in the purchase and cultivation of advocates by Fidel Castro," said Diaz-Balart who called Castro a "psychopath and a serial killer." The goal of Castro advocates: "Mass American tourism with its billions of dollars a year and US trade financing, so that the US taxpayer ultimately bails out and bankrolls Fidel Castro."

Advocates for Castro, he said, "Somehow, they knew that President Obama would refer to Castro’s totalitarian fiefdom as 'Cuba.' Somehow they knew that President Obama would not respond to Mr. Ortega that at the Bay of Pigs Cubans bravely fought to spare their country half a century of totalitarian oppression (President Obama said, “I’m grateful President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old.”)...Of course they knew; President Obama had just unilaterally granted the fiefdom’s owner hundreds of millions of dollars a year, in exchange for nothing."

His remarks (in full after the jump) come as a new poll suggests most Cuban Americans support Obama's bid to improve relations with Cuba.

Budget talks are secret - despite grand jury report

A grand jury report bashing the Legislature for secretiveness in the budget process hasn't changed political business in the state Capitol.

High-level talks continued Tuesday -- behind closed doors, by phone and out of the sunshine as legislative leaders and their staffs traded offers to settle bottom-line differences between the two chambers' proposed state budgets, which remain about $547 million apart.

At the center of the talks: a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and $1-a-pack cigarette tax that the formerly anti-tax House appears ready to accept. But the House wants something from the Senate in exchange: bigger cuts to higher education, state-worker pay and a transportation fund.

More here

Atwater: House cuts "destructive."

Though Senate President Jeff Atwater said he and House Speaker Larry Cretul can quickly strike a deal on the budget, the North Palm Beach Republican has some grave concerns about the House's proposals to cut state-worker pay, suck about $420m from the state transportation trust fund and cut higher education (the Senate is $460m higher).

Repeatedly, Atwater used the word "destructive" to describe the House position and its push to sock more money than the Senate in general-fund savings accounts.

Atwater on the transportation trust fund raid: “That just stops everything. That literally takes people off of a backhoe today -- pulls them off….. All of this is a job today. These are dollars that will literally stop jobs in their tracks.”

“This is really going to be an economically destructive force if we were to do that.”

Atwater on higher ed: “Community colleges. Look at that enrollment growth. People are going back right now trying to get retooled, trying to get their skill sets up, trying to make their next step and the universities are trying to have the capacity to compete nationally and internationally.”

“I don’t think we want to be destructive to the learning opportunities or the skill-set opportunities to Floridians right now.”

Atwater on savings: "I think if you look at our budget it is a budget that is fiscally responsible.... It provides for reserves. It didn’t strip them all. If you’re looking at that argument, look at the two products that have been presented to you.”

“We offered a product that provided for reserves, made longer-term investment and was not destructive to current job creation in areas where we know jobs are being created every year.”

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

Fugate to get Senate quizzing

President Obama's pick for FEMA chief, Florida's Craig Fugate, goes before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee Wednesday for his confirmation hearing.

He'll be introduced in a bipartisan manner by Florida Sens. Mel Martinez (Republican) and Bill Nelson (Democrat). The longtime Florida emergency management director -- who earlier this month made the rounds in DC, meeting with committee members -- is expected to win Senate confirmation -- just in time for the start of hurricane season.

Cretul says Senate must take budget reductions

House Speaker Larry Cretul opened the 1 p.m. session with an update on the budget negotiations with the Senate. "I remain confident we can still and will resolve our differences in a timely way," he said.

But the House insists the Senate to accept its spending cuts. "By blending the proposals from both houses we would fund the state’s “core mission” services and carry forward a balance beyond the 2009-10 budget—as the country works itself out of this recession. It would not be prudent to pass a budget this year that would likely result in a $2 billion budget deficit as early as 2011." Cretul's full statement is here.

Though the House is willing to move on taxes, the Senate is less inclined to accept House cuts to higher education (a $460 million difference) and to the state transportation trust fund (a $420 million difference).

The battle it seems, ultimately comes down to savings. The House wants to sock as much money away (up to $3 billion) to account for the declining economy in future years. The Senate wants to beef up savings to about $1 billion.

Norquist warns House not to increase cig tax

Grover Norquist is stepping up heat on House Republicans to turn back the Senate's proposed cigarette tax. "A tax increase is a tax increase no matter what it is called," Norquist writes in a letter.

Why does this matter? Read here.

Americans for Tax Reform is also trying to call out Gov. Charlie Crist, who signed the no new tax pledge. A piece on the ATR Web site reads:

By all accounts, Gov. Crist of Florida has designs on higher (and highest) office some day. Maybe he thinks the Senate is a good place to go to do that. Just like Bob Dole and Bob Dole 2.0 (John McCain).

But Gov. Crist has a chance to set himself on the right path. Of course he can follow Bill Owens’ (R-Colo.) well-worn path from Presidential front runner to tax-hiking, GOP-smashing obscurity. For Crist the ride is on the back of the Republican-controlled Florida senate-passed tax hike.

House panel passes measure to open door to oil drilling

In a full-barreled appeal to the House Policy Council, the oil and gas industry persuaded lawmakers to vote 17-6 along party lines to open the door to oil and gas exploration in the state waters. The only Democrat to support it was Fort Lauderdale Rep. Yolly Roberson and every Republican voted for it.

The council approved an amendment by Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Orlando, that would lift Florida's ban on oil drilling off state waters and replace it with a plan to allow the governor and Florida Cabinet to seek bidders to lease state land for exploration and ultimately drilling of oil and gas. The amendment appeared at the last meeting of the last stop on a related bill by Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights, and replaced his bill.

The group of presenters included Lewis Sessions, a Dallas-based lawyer who represents unnamed West Texas oil companies. He told the committee that last year Texas earned $7 billion from taxes and fees on oil and gas leases and production. The money was used to fund Texas higher education and land preservation.

"The states of Louisianna and Texas have declining oil production because they have been producing over 100 years,'' he said. "You have the opportunity to be able to learn from their mistakes."

Letterman: Chavez to Obama, "Remember, you can't spell Hugo without hug!"

Here's David Letterman's "Top Ten Things Overheard In The Meeting Between Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez:

"10. 'Dónde está 'el Presidente dumb ass?

9. 'Sorry, Mr. President, they don't sell Marlboros here.'

8. 'Let's get a picture of you shaking hands with Hugo Chavez to really piss off Rush Limbaugh.'

7. 'Mr. Chavez, I have a book for you too – Artie Lange's 'Too Fat To Fish."

6. 'Does this breakup mean Lindsay Lohan is back to dating guys?'

5. 'Remember, you can't spell Hugo without "hug."'

4. 'I can't believe they killed Edie on "Desperate Housewives."'

3. 'Does Biden really think he's fooling anybody with those plugs?'

2. 'I think there's one thing we can both agree on – there's a new star in the Hollywood galaxy by the name of Zac Efron.'

1. 'Is it too late for me to buy your Senate seat?'"

Attempts to compensate family of slain BSO deputy and a paralyzed teen clear Senate hurdles

A proposal that would pay $1.8 million to the family of slain Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Todd Fatta, who was killed serving a search warrant nearly five years ago, cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday.

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee signed off on compensation bill for Fatta’s family with little discussion.

Fatta was killed during a raid in August 2004, and BSO agreed to a $2 million settlement last year, days before a wrongful death lawsuit against the agency was set to go to trial.

At the time, Sheriff Al Lamberti said the agency’s failure to follow its own policies led to Fatta’s death. The key issue: the decision not to use the agency SWAT team, which is made up of officers trained to handle dangerous situations.

BSO has already paid the Fatta family $200,000 as part of that settlement – the maximum allowed under state sovereign immunity laws. Additional payments must be approved by the Legislature, and BSO has agreed not to oppose the Fatta claim.

The bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, and Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, has yet to receive a hearing in the House.

However, over BSO objections, the Senate panel overwhelmingly endorsed a second compensation claim that would require the agency to pay more than $30 million to a man paralyzed more than a decade ago after a BSO cruiser struck his vehicle.

Eric Brody, then-18, was struck on his way home from work in 1998, and a jury awarded him the settlement in 2005.