DeSantis brings Everglades restoration into dispute with House

Gov. Ron DeSantis added a new front to his dispute with the House during a Tuesday press conference: Funding for Everglades restoration.

The governor bashed House leadership on Earth Day because the House’s proposed budget includes $279 million toward Everglades restoration, but DeSantis said his plan included $800 million for it.

“A lot of the reason they’re doing it is because the leadership in the House of Representatives has taken a position that if I’m for something, that it’s their view to just oppose us, just in a knee-jerk fashion,” DeSantis said during the press conference at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Naples.

But DeSantis thanked Senate President Ben Albritton, saying the upper chamber’s budget “basically agreed” with his $800 million proposal. However, the Senate only includes $625 million for Everglades restoration.

The dispute with the House has dominated press conferences the governor has held recently, as he has attacked the House on rising condominium fees, funding for the Florida Highway Patrol, and the probe into Hope Florida.

“We’re getting into this regularity, where [DeSantis] has a temper tantrum,” House Speaker Daniel Perez told reporters last Wednesday. “He gets in front of a camera, and he starts to do one of two things: Either … willingly choosing to lie about what he is telling the people in front of a camera, or he is choosing to not read the bills or look at our budget.”

Alexis Lambert, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and Roger Young, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission executive director, joined the governor in talking about maintaining momentum in Everglades restoration.