Legislators: Grants unfair to Florida

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Bill Cotterell

DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR


If the White House and Congress consider changing how federal money is distributed for welfare programs, state Rep. Curtis Richardson says, Florida should use some math that both parties understand.

Which is more valuable, Richardson asks: Florida's 27 electoral votes or Wyoming's 3?

State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, set up a round table of lawmakers and leaders of anti-poverty programs Thursday to discuss the ongoing complaint about whether Florida is getting its fair share of Community Services Block Grants. Lawson and U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, said Florida is a "donor state" - getting far less money from Washington than state taxpayers send in every year.

Wyoming, the vice president's home state, is in the bag for President Bush this fall. But with about 3 percent of the population Florida has, it gets about seven times more than Florida's $18.8 million slice of the grant money.

more: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/9332020.htm

[soothsayer]

1. Oh. Fed money not distributed based on need, but by electoral vote.

THAT's fair.