Florida U.S. Senate Candidate Spending Analysis – Charlie Crist
Total Net Spending Agenda: $3.476 billion
Economy,
Transportation, and Infrastructure: Unknown
A. Jobs:
“Governor Crist supports public-private partnerships to
encourage Floridians in their job search.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_job.html
Cost:
Unknown.
Note: Related legislation has been
introduced in the form of H.R. 1777 and its companion, S. 777 (111th
Congress), the Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act of 2009.
The bill’s official description notes that it is intended to promote industry
growth and competitiveness and to improve worker training, retention, and
advancement, and for other purposes. The House of Representatives approved the
bill, but a cost estimate remains unavailable.
Education, Science,
and Research: $609 million
A. Education:
“Charlie Crist will be a U.S. Senator who will fight to
bring accountability to our nation’s public schools. […] A system that provides
accountability of students and teachers. A system that provides school choice
to families across America
regardless of socio-economic background. A fair and equitable system that
rewards quality teachers through merit based pay.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_education.html
Cost: $609 million (first-year
cost).
Source: Related legislation has
been introduced in the form of H.R. 2790 (111th Congress), the Standards to Provide
Educational Achievement for Kids Act, a bill to create or adopt, and implement,
rigorous and voluntary American education content standards in mathematics and
science covering kindergarten through grade 12, to provide for the assessment
of student proficiency benchmarked against such standards, and for other
purposes. The text authorizes $609 million in the first year and such sums as
necessary for each succeeding year to provide incentives to states to align
their teacher certification and professional development requirements to such
standards, and to successful grantees for the enhancement of their student
performance data systems.
Note: Federal law mandates that
students have the option to transfer to another public school if the student’s
assigned school fails to meet annual yearly progress. Several bills in the 111th
Congress make reforms to that option. The remaining bills concerning school
choice aimed at restoring the DC Opportunity Scholarship program. The program
is currently being funded through a continuing resolution at $12 million and is
not allowed to award new scholarships; the funding is only available for
existing participants. At its height of funding, in Fiscal Year 2008, the
program received $15 million.
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy10/pdf/appendix/edu.pdf
Energy, Agriculture,
and the Environment: $2.837 billion
A. Energy:
“… Charlie Crist’s leadership toward a clean and secure
energy future will help unleash America’s
ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit. By promoting policies that reduce
taxpayer’s [sic] electric and
transportation fuel bills through energy efficiency, reduce dependence on
foreign oil by increasing renewable and clean domestic energy production – solar,
wind, wave, biofuels, nuclear – millions of jobs will be created and America’s
energy future will be clean and secure.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_energy.html
Cost:
$2.837 billion ($14.187 billion over five years).
Source: Related legislation has
been introduced S. 1462 (111th Congress), the American Clean Energy
Leadership Act of 2009, a bill to promote clean energy technology development,
enhanced energy efficiency, improved energy security, and energy innovation and
workforce development, and for other purposes. The bill increases funding for a
variety of energy-related programs administered by the Department of Energy and
other agencies by $13.327 billion over five years – excluding $900 million in
offsetting receipts that would be raised by opening up areas offshore of
Florida to oil leasing (see Item D below). Governor Crist is opposed to
offshore oil drilling in Florida.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate is available. NTUF calculated
baseline spending for the programs in CBO’s estimate based on budget data.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=10637&sequence=0&from=6
Additional related legislation was
introduced in the form of H.R. 4907 (111th Congress), the Energy
Innovation Hubs Authorization Act of 2010. The bill provides grants for
advanced energy research including an innovative technology that produces
energy from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, tidal, wave, ocean, or other
renewable energy resources; that produces nuclear energy; for carbon capture
and sequestration; or that generates, transmits, distributes, utilizes, or
stores energy more efficiently than conventional technologies. The text
authorizes $860 million over five years.
B. Everglades:
“Charlie Crist will fight for the federal funds necessary to
continue the federal-state partnership under the Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan (CERP) passed in 2000.” http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_environment.html
Cost: Unknown.
Note: During the 110th
Congress, H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act, which became law,
included a $683 million project along the Indian River in the Everglades.
It is uncertain whether, or how much, additional funding would be required to
continue the CERP.
C. National Parks:
“The beauty of America is its national parks.
Following the model of Teddy Roosevelt, Charlie Crist will support the efforts
to preserve and conserve our national resources and treasures.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_energy.html
Cost:
Unknown.
D. Offshore Oil Drilling:
“We need to stop offshore oil drilling in Florida.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/featured/crist-on-cbs-early-show-we-need-to-ban-oil-drilling-off-flor
Cost: (See
Item A above).
Note: Stopping offshore oil
drilling would decrease offsetting receipts paid to the Treasury.
Health Care: Unknown
A. Health Care:
“The American people need a health care system modeled on
one that actually works, one that provides choice and access to quality health
care at affordable costs. To those ends, Governor Crist has led the way in
providing free market health care solutions when he proposed and signed into
law Cover Florida. The Cover Florida
Health Care plan provides uninsured Floridians with 27 health care options that
best meet their needs. These private health insurance plans offer a wide array
of health care benefits depending on age and medical needs. … As Florida’s next U.S.
Senator, he will take this common-sense, free market approach to Washington.” http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_healthcare.html
Cost:
Unknown.
Note: According to Politifact.com,
Cover Florida “allows people without coverage for at least six months to pick
from plans offered by six insurance companies. The state selected each provider
through a competitive bidding process. The provider offers at least two options
— one with catastrophic and hospital coverage, and another plan that can
provide less coverage.”
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2010/mar/03/charlie-crist/crist-says-cover-florida-offers-basic-health-cover/
B. Repeal and Replace Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act:
“Repeal must be accompanied by a responsible substitute –
repeal without passage of a substitute law protecting those with pre-existing
conditions, closing the prescription drug donut hole for seniors, and allowing
parents to keep their children on their insurance coverage until age 26 would
be wrong.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/blog/my-position-on-the-obama-health-care-bill
Cost:
Unknown.
Note: CBO did not complete a
comprehensive analysis of all the spending resulting from passage of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PL 111-148). Among the known costs,
including the changes in direct spending listed in a March 11, 2010 CBO letter,
and the specified and certain estimated authorizations and implementation costs
in a CBO letter on May 11, 2010, the law could increase spending by $88.679
billion over the FY 2011 to FY 2015 period. The bill also included unspecified
spending authority that CBO has not estimated. The cost of the complete package
that Governor Crist would support is unknown.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/113xx/doc11307/Reid_Letter_HR3590.pdf
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/114xx/doc11490/LewisLtr_HR3590.pdf
CBO estimated
that closing the so-called Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” would cost
$3.8 billion over five years.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/113xx/doc11355/hr4872.pdf
Homeland Security and
Law Enforcement: Unknown
A. Immigration
Reform:
“Report after report says that [Social Security] is solvent
until 2037 or 2041. … I’ve … offered a plan that can help it that is supported
by Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor previously, in a previous administration.
And it’s straightforward and simple. There are [11 to 14 million people] … that
are not American citizens today, that are not participating in the American
economy. If we can find a pathway to earn citizenship for those 11 to 14
million people, they would be paying into the system, and when 2037 or 2041
comes, if in fact Social Security is still being challenged, we have another
way and another opportunity that provides jobs, in a legal sense, and is
compassionate to immigrants who come to our country.”
http://www.wftv.com/video/25308257/index.html
Cost: Unknown.
Note: S. 2611 (109th
Congress), the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, would have created
a process for long-time illegal aliens to gain citizenship, and it would have
created a temporary worker program. CBO estimates that the bill would have
increased mandatory spending for federal benefit programs such as Medicaid,
Social Security, Medicare, and Food Stamps by $12.9 billion over five years. In
addition, enforcement and border security provisions would have cost $25.2
billion over five years. NTUF is uncertain as to what degree Governor Crist’s
plan would reflect the provisions of S. 2611.
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=7501&zzz=34050
National Defense and
International Relations: Unknown
A. National Defense:
“As Florida’s
next U.S. Senator, Charlie Crist will support our military men and women as
they provide for a strong national defense. … Charlie Crist will fight to give
the men and women in uniform the proper resources, equipment and training
needed to defend our nation both at home and abroad.” http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_nationaldefense.html
Cost: Unknown.
B. National Defense in Florida:
“Charlie Crist will do everything in his power to make sure
the U.S. military remains an
integral part of the Florida
landscape.”
http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_nationaldefense.html
Cost:
Unknown.
Note: This proposal may be an
attempt to prevent savings proposals initiated by the Defense Base Realignment and
Closure Commission.
Miscellaneous: $30
million
A. Seniors:
“ … [H]e continues to fight to secure the safety and
affordability of health care, to protect seniors from fraud, and to create
opportunities for seniors to live active and enriched lives.” http://www.charliecrist.com/charlie_seniors.html
Cost: $30 million
($150 million over five years).
Source: Related legislation has
been introduced in the form of H.R. 5884 and S. 3494 (111th
Congress), the Senior Financial Empowerment Act of 2010, to prevent mail,
telemarketing, and Internet fraud targeting seniors in the United States, to
promote efforts to increase public awareness of the enormous impact that mail,
telemarketing, and Internet fraud have on seniors, to educate the public,
seniors, their families, and their caregivers about how to identify and combat
fraudulent activity, and for other purposes. The text authorizes $30 million
per year.
Note: No legislation in the 111th
Congress deals specifically with prosecution of fraud against seniors.
H.R. 1748, the Fight Fraud Act of 2009, would authorize funding to investigate
financial fraud across all demographic groups. CBO estimates the bill would
cost $805 million over five years.
http://www.cbo.gov/cedirect.cfm?bill=hr1748≅=111
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