Senator Rick Scott met with the leaders of Eglin Air Force Base Saturday. 

Scott, a Naples Republican and former governor, told the press that the meetings with Eglin leadership were productive and helped him determine the needs of the military in Florida more broadly.

He also addressed the extension of the deadline for government funding that passed earlier in the week – and the methods used to keep the government open and operating. “We just got another [continuing resolution] done this week,” Scott said, “That’s not the way to run a government. What we need to do is pass a budget. Unfortunately, the way the Senate works right now, [New York Senator and Democratic Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer has made the decision that he doesn’t want to do that.” Ultimately, he believes a Defense spending bill is close to an agreement. “I’m actually optimistic that we will get that bill passed,” Scott said, “I think the top line has been agreed to.”

Scott also addressed Jack Posobiec’s comments at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Posobiec told supporters he wanted to “overthrow Democracy” in a speech at the meeting of conservatives. “I think we all here believe in democracy,” Scott said, “We have a great republic. I’m a kid that grew up in public housing and my mom told me that thank God I grew up in the United States of America because I could be anything. There’s no place in the world like this. This is it. We have things we have to improve, we have things we have to make better, we have a lot of things to work on, but the truth is there’s no place like home. There’s no place like the United States of America and this republic has worked and we’re gonna continue to improve it.”