Rick Scott on Balancing the Budget and our National Debt

Message from Senator Rick Scott

Dear Fellow Floridian,

This week, our national debt hit $40 trillion. It's hard even to fathom just how much money we're talking about, and even more difficult when you think about how much the United States government is now paying in interest on that debt.

Here are a couple of things to put it in perspective:

• If we paid down $1 million every day since the birth of Jesus Christ, we still wouldn’t have covered even 2% of the current national debt.
• Meanwhile, we’re currently paying $3 billion per day in interest ALONE.
• Congress managed to double our debt from $20 trillion in less than NINE YEARS. It was less than $6 trillion just 25 years ago. The federal debt is an exponential problem.

Think about it like a credit card bill that keeps growing with no plan to pay it off, causing prices to rise, the value of the dollar to fall, and your paycheck to cover less and less of the expenses piling up around you. We can’t sustain this.

Florida families are facing this reckless reality every day, and it's why I'm fighting to Make Washington Work for YOU by demanding Congress STOP THE SPENDING and BALANCE THE BUDGET.

That’s why I have sponsored numerous bills to tackle the swamp’s decades-long spending addiction, such as:

• Leading the Balanced Budget Responsibility Act to provide the president with the authority and discretion to curb wasteful government spending and balance the federal budget.
• Cosponsoring Senator Jon Husted’s Principles-Based Balanced Budget Amendment, which would amend the Constitution to require the federal government to balance its budget, just like every American family and business does.
• Fighting the Senate’s reckless, wasteful, and corrupt earmarks.
• Introducing my Locating Every Disbursement in Government Expenditure Records (LEDGER) Act to require the Department of the Treasury to track all government payments.

As your governor, I balanced the budget, cut taxes, paid down nearly one-third of our state debt, supported private-sector job growth, and lowered costs for families. Washington needs that same approach.

It’s time to cut wasteful federal spending, pay off our debt, and restore fiscal sanity so that we can protect the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

Florida Budget 2026-27

DeSantis Signs Final State Budget of His Administration

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed Florida’s $117.6 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, approving a spending plan that he said reduces state spending for the fourth consecutive year.

The final budget comes after nearly $810 million in line-item vetoes and covers the fiscal year that begins today, July 1. It is the final full state budget of DeSantis’ administration.

Some of the highlights:

The plan directs $30 billion to K-12 public schools, raising per-student funding to $9,338, or $150 more than the current year. It also includes $1.56 billion for salary increases for teachers and other instructional personnel, $1.65 billion for early childhood education and $290 million for school safety.

Environmental spending includes $1.2 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality projects. That total includes $665 million for Everglades restoration, $396 million for targeted water quality improvements, $150 million for Florida Forever, $64 million for beach nourishment and $425 million for the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.

For public safety, the budget includes $19.8 million for sworn state law enforcement pay increases, $20 million for the Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program and $15 million for the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication Program.

Read more about Florida's Budget

Gov. DeSantis signs $117.6B Florida budget with tax relief, debt reduction and record reserves, leveraging a robust fiscal position to bring total state reserves to nearly $18 billion. The state's Rainy-Day fund is fully funded at its constitutional limit of $5 billion.

DeSantis campaigns for Federal Balanced Budget

Governor Ron DeSantis in Boise, Idaho

He traveled yesterday as part of a campaign to build support for a federal Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would require the federal government to spend no more than it collects in revenue.

DeSantis is leading a coalition of Republican governors supporting the amendment through the nonprofit Balanced Budget Now, which he launched alongside Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and introduced to the Republican Governors Association.

The campaign seeks to promote a federal Balanced Budget Amendment either through congressional approval or a convention of states.

Republican governors sent a letter to Congress on January 11th offering to help Elon Musk and President Trump—in their cost-cutting efforts—reach the ultimate goal of a balanced federal budget.

Balanced Budget Now