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Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Trump should "stay away" from Florida unless he's apologizing and burning budget
By Jenni Fink

President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Florida legislators on Friday, but unless he’s bringing an apology and burning his budget, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz said he can stay away from the Sunshine State.

The president arrived in Florida on Thursday night and was expected to tour Lake Okeechobee by air via Marine One and meet with Governor Ron DeSantis and Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, according to Politico. Trump was also expected to see the Everglades restoration projects.

Although the president allocated $63 million in his proposed budget for the restoration projects, bipartisan legislators had requested $200 million. Receiving one-third of the necessary funding didn’t go over well on both sides of the aisle. In a joint statement, Rubio, Scott and Representatives Brian Mast and Francis Rooney criticized the federal government for failing to uphold its end of the agreement.

“Failing to meet the basic federal funding commitments to restore the Everglades is contrary to the administration’s goal of improving project partnerships and cost-sharing with states,” the lawmakers said. “Successive Florida governors have remained committed to this goal, pushing state funding of this 50/50 federal-state partnership to historic highs.”

Wasserman Schultz also spoke out about the limited funds and said Trump’s budget “represents an environmental disaster” for the Everglades and other environmental priorities in the state. With the president’s visit looming, Wasserman Schultz told TCPalm that Trump should be “ashamed” to come to South Florida after making his budget recommendations.

“Just yesterday, the chief of engineers of the Army Corps testified that Everglades restoration projects may need to 'take a knee' if Trump's shabby and abysmal environmental budget were adopted,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Unless Trump is visiting South Florida to apologize and burn his proposed budget, he should stay away."

During a budget hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on Thursday, Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio asked Lieutenant General Todd Semonite of the Army Corps of Engineers what projects would not be funded if the budget was cut by a third.

Semonite noted that a minimum amount of work needs to be funded to “keep America moving,” such as people operating hydro-plants, locks and dams. Those necessities take priority, and when funding is tight, Semonite explained, other projects are delayed.

“I hate to say Everglades restoration, but if we had to take a knee there for a while, if we had to do less ecosystem, if there are some other things that we’re going to start and put on hold,” Semonite told Kaptur. “I also think the backlog would get bigger.”

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was approved by Congress in 2000, according to the National Parks Service. The project had a timeline of over 35 years and a cost of more than $10.5 billion, making it the largest hydrologic restoration project in U.S. history.

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