‘How Crazy Is That?’: Florida Gov. DeSantis Slams Veteran Federal Assistance Program Inefficiencies

last year

On Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) delivered remarks on legislation to aid low-income veterans during a signing ceremony.

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Transcript

00:00projects that need to be done. We have record funding for things like

00:05conservation, Florida Springs, our coastlines, all this stuff we've been

00:10able to do. So we're doing the things that make a difference in your life.

00:14We're vetoing, you know, vetoing pork projects or whatever, you know,

00:18protecting taxpayers, holding the line overall on spending, but the money that

00:23we are spending we're making an impact with and that's really the way it should

00:26be done. And even amongst that, we got 500 million dollars in the budget for

00:32accelerated debt repayment. So you now have the state of Florida, the lowest

00:37per capita state debt in the entire United States of America. The U.S.

00:47The U.S. government obviously has a 34 plus trillion dollar debt. If you parcel

00:54that out amongst each American, that means each and every solitary American

01:00would owe over $100,000 a pop. If you parceled out Florida state debt, each

01:07Floridian, and it would never come to this, but each Floridian would owe about

01:11$600. So that's a much bigger different picture that we're dealing with. So we're

01:15happy with that, but we got 500 million to retire debt even more rapidly. So

01:21even before that goes into effect, we've retired 36% of the state's taxpayer

01:28supported debt. That's from the entire history of Florida till the present.

01:32We've knocked out 36% of it. That 500 million will let us do do even more and

01:37that is saving tens of millions of dollars in interest payments for

01:41taxpayers on these bonds and whatnot. So it's good management and we're proud of

01:45that. But so it's a good budget, but then within that, you know, we got over 80

01:49million dollars across various agencies for veterans initiatives in the state of

01:53Florida, workforce preparation, medical assistance, education opportunities,

02:00helping veteran homeless veterans get in a stable situation, as well as legal

02:07services for veterans. We also have 17 million in additional funding for the

02:11Florida Department of Veteran Affairs to do, among other things, provide dental

02:16care for low-income veterans, six new veterans claims examiners to assist

02:22veterans in obtaining the federal benefits that they're owed. I mean, crazy

02:26is this that the state has to hire people to help veterans get their

02:30federal benefits, but that's the federal government that we have for you.

02:34Assisting veterans in translating their military experience to meet state

02:37licensure requirements to ease the transition in the civilian life. Also

02:43money to support equipment and capital improvements at veterans homes across

02:47the state and to begin building a new veterans long-term care facility in

02:53Collier County upon approval of a federal grant. So that's a really

02:57significant win for the department and I'm pleased to announce that with the

03:02addition of the Collier County State Veterans Nursing Home, Florida will have

03:07the most state veterans nursing homes in the entire United States of America. So

03:13we're doing it.

03:18Which brings us why we're here today. And we've got two really good bills.

03:23The first bill that I'm gonna sign is House Bill 725 and you're gonna hear a

03:29minute, a story here about why this is necessary. But what it does is it expands

03:36the eligibility for admissions to a veterans long-term care facility to

03:40include spouses and surviving spouses of qualifying veterans. You have

03:47situations where a veteran has been separated effectively from the spouse

03:54because the spouse is not eligible to be in a veterans nursing home. We have

03:59changed that with this piece of legislation. First of all, it's just the

04:04right thing to do when you have a surviving veteran and the spouse. You

04:09know, we want to keep them together. But even when the veteran unfortunately

04:13passes on, we recognize that that spouse has also served. And that spouse

04:20deserves our support as well. Um, not really swearing an oath, but it's kind

04:25of an implicit oath that they take, uh, to do what they can to help the

04:30veterans. So we're, uh, we think that this is something that's that's

04:34appropriate. I'm not sure how many other states do this. Do you know? Just

04:38a very few states. So we're on the vanguard yet again on that. But this is

04:43important. There is valuable care that's provided at our veterans nursing

04:47homes. We have a bunch of services all the way down to hospice care, and we

04:54want to make sure that families are kept together. Spouses are kept

04:57together. So you'll hear a little bit more about that in a second. I'm also

05:00signing HB 13 29, which revises existing programs and expands benefits

05:06for folks here in Florida. And these air programs, many of which are

05:11designed to help the veteran transition to civilian life. And so

05:15we've done a lot of good work in this area. This is gonna make it even

05:19better. Some of it will be marketing. Some of it will be providing awareness.

05:23Some of the providing out outreach. But I think that once people know that

05:28they have these tools at their disposal, there's a lot that can be

05:32done at that point now. And what we want to do, too, is help veterans get

05:38to preferred markets, preferred industries, because there are a lot.

05:43There's a lot going on in the state of Florida. I can tell you that. Um, I

05:47mean, I remember when Pasco County. I mean, I grew up in Pinellas County.

05:51Pasco County was considered rural. Now you've got. I mean, like how many

05:55people live in Pasco County now? It's incredible. So and you're seeing that

05:59all over. I ran into somebody that grew up in Polk County, you know, and

06:04that was viewed as very well. They got over 800,000 people now in Polk County.

06:08I mean, like this is just what's happening to the state. So there's a

06:11lot of opportunities, and we want to make sure that we're helping the

06:14veteran realize those opportunities, training programs, what have you. Now,

06:19the bill also provides free hunting, fishing, freshwater and saltwater

06:26fishing licenses to all disabled veterans. So you take that.

06:36We also create and fund the Major John Leroy Haynes, Leroy Haynes, Florida

06:41Veterans History program within the Department of State's Division of Arts

06:45and Culture to record the stories of Florida's veterans and preserve them

06:50for future generations. I when we had the 80th anniversary of D Day, I

06:57announced and we don't have very many surviving members. And so and we

07:01identified some in Florida. Most of them were going over to Normandy to do the

07:06ceremony, which is totally appropriate. And we said, When you get back, we're

07:10gonna award all surviving D Day veterans the Florida Medal of Merit,

07:16which is our highest honor for exceptional meritorious service to

07:20either state or country. So but we said we're not gonna do like a big ceremony

07:23in Tallahassee because it's hard to get around. It's a big state. So when

07:26when we're in your area, you know, we will do so. You know, we had we had a

07:30guy, a fellow down in Miami the other day. We're able to present it to him.

07:35Signed up in the Navy in 1943 is there indeed day and 44 bringing the tanks

07:41ashore. Then he goes to the Philippines, then Japan and did great service to

07:45the country. But, um, you know, the connection to those folks, uh, has has

07:51dwindled because most of them have passed on at this time. So really, it's

07:56up to us to make sure that that future generations understand what it means.

08:02And I think that this program to record these stories and preserve them, I

08:07think it's really, really important. And this bill even goes further with

08:11that. We are requiring in the state of Florida, middle and high school

08:14students to receive instruction on the history of Veterans Day and on the

08:19history of Memorial Day, which is good.

08:28So, you know, it's like they say the U. S. Is laboratory of the states or

08:32laboratories of democracy. So if you want the schools to be teaching first

08:38graders that they can switch genders like, you know, California's got that

08:42covered. If you want schools teaching students, which we do about the evils

08:47of communism, about what it means to be an American citizen and about the

08:52history and the sacrifices that went into Memorial and Veterans Day. Well,

08:56then Florida is the place for you. So I think we're doing it right, and I'm

08:59proud, proud that we're able

‘How Crazy Is That?’: Florida Gov. DeSantis Slams Veteran Federal Assistance Program Inefficiencies

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