Florida Gov. Rick Scott declined to endorse a candidate for the Republican presidential primary Thursday, but he told
Newsmax TV that whoever wins must have "the best plan for jobs."
"Who has the best plan to balance the budget?" Scott, 63, told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth in an exclusive interview. "Who's got a plan to cut regulations, like we've done here?
"We've got to cut the federal regulation in half — and who's got a plan to absolutely, no question about it, destroy ISIS?"
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Scott, who said that he would not announce a choice until the state's March 15 primary drew nearer, linked increased job growth to his efforts to create one million employment opportunities for Sunshine State residents since first taking office in 2011.
"We've turned this economy around," he told Hayworth. "The way I think about it, if you want to help the weakest, the poorest, the most disadvantaged live their dreams, get them a job.
"That's what we're doing in our state. There's 300,000 job openings in our state right now. We're on a roll."
Key to this momentum is cutting taxes and regulations, Scott said.
"Last year, we did $427 million in tax cuts. The year before, $500 million in tax cuts. This time, we're going to do $1 billion.
"It's an investment in you — so you can get a job, so we can diversify this economy, help our small businesses," Scott said.
"When I walked into this job five years ago, we had a $3.6 billion projected budget deficit," he added. "We've cut taxes 50 times and guess what's happened? Now we have a $3.4 billion surplus.
"We have more projected revenues than recurring expenses.
"It's clearly worked in Florida," Scott said. "People are moving here — 365,000 people have moved here. We've added 1,011,000 jobs, and we have 300,000 job openings. So, it's clearly working.
"I am going to make sure this is the place where you want to live because you can get a job, your kids can get a great education, and live in a safe community," Scott told Hayworth.
"But I want to make jobs, jobs, jobs number one."
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