The Florida Senate OK'd roughly $500 million in cuts to the state's $70 billion budget Thursday, capping a grim opening week for a Legislature facing even more reductions to next year's spending plan.
Senators then turned around and began taking an ax to the 2008-09 budget, agreeing to erase automatic increases that nursing homes, hospitals and other health-care providers get each year as payment for treating low-income Floridians.
Facing the need to cut as much as $2.5 billion, leading lawmakers said it was time to get serious, even if it meant risking harm to the needy.
"The state's very resilient," said Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, when asked if there were any chance of such automatic increases ever returning. "And I believe in miracles," added Peaden, who is in charge of the Senate's health and human services budget and recommended the rate cut.
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