Florida Sen. Rick Scott slams Ocasio-Cortez, encourages Amazon to move to Florida
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Following Amazon’s decision earlier this month to scrap plans to build a second headquarters in New York City, Florida Sen. Rick Scott seized the moment Friday and encouraged the tech giant to consider moving to the Sunshine State.
The Republican lawmaker revealed on Twitter that he’d sent a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos a day earlier, in which he touted his state’s appreciation of “what a good job can mean for a family.”
“While I can’t argue with New York’s inhospitable business climate and anti-growth political leaders, I don’t think that should limit Amazon’s expansion plans. Florida presents an easy alternative,” he wrote in the letter.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats from New York, were mentioned specifically, with Scott claiming that their policies would not be good for Amazon.
“Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has shown that she has no interest in keeping jobs in New York,” Scott wrote. “The reality is, her political greed scuttled a deal that would have created 25,000 jobs for hard-working people in her community. Florida will happily welcome these jobs to our state.”
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Ocasio-Cortez was a staunch opponent of the company’s potential move to the Big Apple and cheered when Amazon announced they were not moving forward with their plans.
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“Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” she tweeted Feb. 14.
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Cuomo, for his part, expressed frustration following Amazon’s decision, saying the new headquarters would’ve been “an extraordinary economic win.”
"However, a small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community -- which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City -- the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state,” he said in a statement at the time.
Scott went on to note his goal to provide residents with opportunities to live out “the American Dream,” and touted Florida as “the most business-friendly state in the country.”
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“Not to mention that there are already several Amazon warehouses in Florida,” he wrote. “We support an opportunity economy in Florida, not socialism like many of New York’s elected leaders.”
“Don’t let anti-business leaders in New York stifle your efforts to expand and create jobs and opportunity for thousands of hard-working Americans. Bring HQ2 to a state that appreciates and respects the work that you do – Florida,” Scott concluded.
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Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia contributed to this report.