Today, before the Florida Development Finance Corporation, Rep. Alan Grayson, a candidate for U.S. Senate, spoke out in favor of All Aboard Florida, a planned inter-city passenger train system. Grayson urged the state agency to approve the issuance of $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds in order to finance the 235-mile rail service.
“All Aboard Florida will change our state for the better and I wholeheartedly support it,” he said. “It’s a vital project that will be good for tourism, good for the environment and good for the economy.”
All Aboard Florida is an express inter-city rail project that aims to connect Miami to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando.
Late last year, the rail project received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to raise $1.75 billion in tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds, but the FDFC must also accept the plan before All Aboard Florida can move forward.
Former Republican Patrick Murphy, who is challenging Grayson in Florida’s Democratic primary, was a no-show at today’s meeting. He is opposed to the rail project and is the only Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted to kill All Aboard Florida.
“All Aboard Florida says it will create 10,000 jobs, remove 3 million cars from Florida’s highways, reduce pollution, and improve the economies of many of our state’s premier cities,” Grayson said in a statement. “I question how anyone who hopes to represent the whole state could vote against a project whose economic benefits will echo throughout the economy, but then again, I question a lot of Patrick Murphy’s votes.”
