Rick Scott Unveils Budget to CNN Audience

Appearing on CNN News Tuesday morning, Gov. Rick Scott described his "jobs budget" to a national audience. It's a budget, he said, that calls for more than $5 billion in spending cuts and returns $2 billion to taxpayers.

For Floridians who paid attention to Monday's budget unveiling at a tea party event in Eustis, the governor didn't say much new.

CNN News anchor C.J. Holmes pressed Scott on the dichotomy of a governor calling himself a "jobs governor" yet slashing 8,700 jobs from the state payroll.

"You've already got a 12 percent unemployment rate in Florida," Holmes said. "How is this going to help your people get back to work?"

Scott replied that a lot of those state jobs now are standing vacant. "My focus is on building private-sector jobs," he said. "We want to create an atmosphere where people build their businesses with reduced taxes and fewer regulations" and can be in a better position to hire.

Scott was interviewed in Tallahassee.