Florida government officials are touting their efforts at reducing the state's debt.

Ben Watkins, Florida's bond finance director, gave the Florida Cabinet an update at a Tuesday meeting.

"The folks in D.C. ought to take a page out of our book, they can learn something from it,” Watkins said.

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Watkins said the state's focus in paying off bonds and borrowing less have paid off. Another thing: recent state budgets have devoted hundreds of millions of dollars to paying off the debt.

Watkins said the state has cut its debt by more than half since Gov. Ron DeSantis took office, by an average 3 million dollars a day: from $17.5 billion to roughly $8.7 billion.

But Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando said they’re not mentioning something to the public.

“They need to understand that the state itself has engaged in excessive spending,” he said, pointing to the money the state put toward the Everglades detention center, called Alligator Alcatraz. “Also the consequences: certainly a drastic cut to our public schools, to programs for people with disabilities, to environmental programs."

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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.