Florida House speaker calls DeSantis a 'seventh grader' as budget fight continues

Romy Ellenbogen, Tampa Bay Times on May 13, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After the budget deal between the Florida House and Senate blew up last week, House Speaker Daniel Perez said he’s willing to consider other ideas beyond a sales tax cut to reduce state spending.

Though Perez said he would negotiate, he criticized the Senate president for “breaking our word” and accused Gov. Ron DeSantis of being “scared” of having tough conversations.

“The governor isn’t willing to have a conversation, period,” Perez said. “There’s no difference between him and any seventh grader in Miami-Dade County right now who tweets.”

Perez’s plan for a major sales tax cut has been at the heart of the battle over Florida’s budget.

On Tuesday, he said the House would “embrace any and all ideas that curb the state budget.” He said the only idea he had ruled out was a proposal from DeSantis to send Florida property owners about $1,000 for property tax relief.

The fighting between Perez and other Republican leaders has ramped up as lawmakers try to complete their one required duty: passing a budget. On Tuesday, the House voted to extend the session until the end of June.

“If the Senate’s plan is to wait us out, then they will find us unmoved,“ Perez said. ”We will not be intimidated, and we will not be bullied.”

Last week, a tentative budget deal brokered between Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton fell apart when Albritton told Perez he could no longer agree to it.

Earlier in May, Albritton had said the Senate would move forward with a $2.8 billion tax relief plan as part of an agreement with the House.

But after DeSantis said the tax cut could be “dead on arrival,” Albritton said in a memo that he wanted a more targeted cut. He also said Senators in his chamber had expressed concern about the previous plan

“I have very strong feelings about the Senate president’s actions,“ Perez said on Tuesday. ”As presiding officers, as elected officials — our word is our bond.”

In January, Perez and Albritton aligned to push back on the governor’s call for an immigration special session, a rare move for Republican politicians under DeSantis’ administration.

But in the weeks since, DeSantis has focused his criticisms largely at the House and not at the Senate. At news conferences around the state, DeSantis has attacked the House leadership as a failure.

Perez said he and the governor haven’t spoken in “quite some time.”

Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Palm Harbor, the Senate appropriations chair, said he thinks some parts of the House’s budget plan are unsustainable, and said Albritton doesn’t want to leave future leaders in a spot where they have to raise taxes.

“Whether he admits it or not, I don’t think the speaker, I guess I would say, much cares,” Hooper said.

And while the House voted to extend the session until the end of June, Hooper said he thinks the budget can be done by June 6.

“That’s a game they’re playing,“ he said. ”They would like to put the governor in a position to have to veto the budget."

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