Mike Haridopolos Representing Florida Senate District 26

Read Sen. Haridopolos’ Letter to US Sen. Bill Nelson

Jul 7, 2010

July 6, 2010

The Honorable Bill Nelson
United States Senate

716 Senate Hart Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Nelson,

As our leaders in Washington continue to spend recklessly, ensuring that future generations will bear the costs of their plans to grow government, Floridians face unprecedented economic challenges and have found little relief in the efforts of our elected federal representatives. In a time of record unemployment, Floridians have only had their problems compounded by the coming bill for health care “reform,” a complete lack of support for a space program that employs thousands, and the federal government’s slow response in shielding them from the economic impacts of the oil spill. Florida deserves better, especially from its senior senator. We need true leadership, not more of the same inaction.

Washington’s insistence that the way to fix health care is to place millions of Floridians into a broken Medicaid system is simply irresponsible and will do little, if anything, to improve the availability of quality of care.  It certainly will not help families and businesses create jobs. Medicaid expenditures are already nearly thirty percent of our state budget and continue to grow each year. For all of its costs—required by the federal government—this program does not serve the interests of patients or providers. Despite its costs and ineffectiveness for patients, the health care plan you supported would place an additional 1.4 million Floridians into this program according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study. You may suggest that the federal government will cover the additional costs, at least for the next few years, but I would remind you that it is Floridians who will send that money to you in Washington.

As a Congressman who had the privilege of riding aboard the space shuttle at taxpayers’ expense, you are certainly aware of the importance of the space program in Florida that provides tens of thousands of quality jobs as well as the exploration and innovation that has allowed our nation to lead the world. You stood with then-candidate Barack Obama in August 2008 when he visited Titusville to promise that he intended to make sure that “our space program doesn’t suffer when the shuttle goes out of service…. by continuing to support NASA funding, by speeding the development of the shuttle’s successor, by making sure that all those who work in the space industry in Florida do not lose their jobs when the shuttle is retired.”  It was clear when you failed to show up on April 11 to stand with us at the Save Space Rally on the eve of the President’s next space visit that you had failed in pressuring him to keep those promises and had given up on saving those thousands of jobs.  While the state of Florida stepped up with unprecedented support to ensure that Florida remains the world’s premier spaceport, we cannot solve the coming unemployment increase or the loss of our nation’s leadership in space with both a complete lack of support and action in Washington. Continued space exploration is vital to the future of our state, and we cannot stand by as the President instructs NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that his “foremost” mission should be to make other nations “feel good about their historic contribution to science… math and engineering,” [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/]. We both know that the main focus is not about “feeling good,” but rather earning a paycheck for all those who are fighting every day to be gainfully employed.

Floridians along our coasts are already struggling in a tough economy have now seen their property and businesses severely impacted by the effects of the oil spill. Despite many promises, these Floridians have seen little in the way of solutions from the federal government over the past two months. While these residents deal with the real problems, our representatives have demagogued and held press conferences.  What Floridians need are solutions. Given Washington’s recent record of decisions on spending, it is not hard to understand why many of the people impacted in our state lack confidence that the $20 billion from BP, like trillions of other dollars, will not make it where it is needed most.

With these mounting pressures being constantly aggravated by the actions of our representatives in Washington, we need real leadership to bring jobs and prosperity to Florida. What our state needs now is your commitment to spend less time worrying about the priorities of the leadership in Congress and the White House and more time working to fix the real problems Florida faces each day. We ask that you begin by listening to Floridians about the economic problems they face, made only worse because of your support of unaffordable and ineffective health care mandates, lack of action on our coastline and absent support for our space program. The future of our great state is at stake, and I look forward to your response to these highly time-sensitive issues.

Sincerely,

Mike Haridopolos
Florida Senate, District 26