Florida Owes Feds Big Bucks

Janet Rehnquist suppressed this little report until after the election:

TALLAHASSEE -- A federal audit that was delayed at the request of Gov. Jeb Bush's office during his re-election campaign found that Florida's public pension fund owes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services $267 million.

The department's inspector general's office said the state, which receives federal money to pay employees working in federally funded programs such as Medicaid, charged too much for pension benefits between 1999 and 2002.

The audit said the state should refund the money from the $12.8 billion in surplus funds in the $93 billion pension plan, either by paying all at once or over the long term by reducing future pension costs for the federal agency.