DeSantis Vetoes Funding for Tampa Bay Rays Facility Over Tweets About Gun Control: Report
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) vetoed a budget item for a new practice facility for the Tampa Bay Rays over the team’s recent tweets about gun control.
The Florida Republican signed his state’s new budget Thursday for the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1.
NPR in Tampa Bay reported,
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a record $109.9 billion budget for the fiscal year that will begin July 1, but vetoes included funds for a Pasco sports complex and an H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center facility in Pasco County.
Pointing to a need to further brace the state against a potential recession, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued $3.13 billion in vetoes Thursday as he signed a record $109.9 billion budget for the fiscal year that will begin July 1.
Among items vetoed were funds to build the Rays’ $35 million practice facility. Outick reported DeSantis blocked the allocation after the team tweeted about recent mass shootings across the country.
Bobby Burack of Outkick wrote,
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to veto a $35 million legislation for a Pasco County facility that’s earmarked for the Tampa Bay Rays’ spring training, OutKick has learned.
DeSantis’s decision is in response to the Rays politicizing recent shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde ahead of a matchup with the Yankees in May.
The report cited a tweet from the team from May 26 that asked for donations to the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety.
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 26, 2022
Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, appeared to confirm the report when she retweeted it Thursday evening.
