Florida's Freshman Congressman Rich Nugent

Republican U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent on Thursday backed off his call to use the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds rejected by Gov. Rick Scott to pay down the national debt. Instead, he shocked tea party activists by urging the money be sent to Tallahassee for other Florida transportation projects.

Tea party activists across the state were quick to criticize Nugent’s comments, saying the Tea Party Caucus member had it right the first time.

Nugent said last week that he backed the governor’s decision and hoped the monies would be used to pay down the national debt.

“Like all states, Florida is desperately short on money because the federal government takes such an enormous share of Americans’ paychecks that there is little left for the states’ basic responsibilities," Nugent said earlier. "The result is that Florida and others are becoming more and more dependent on Uncle Sam’s apparent generosity. That needs to change.

“... Governor Rick Scott’s decision to decline $2.4 billion in federal money for high-speed rail is clearly a necessary and responsible choice,” added Nugent. “I just hope that the money is used to pay down part of our $14 trillion national debt.”

Apparently he decided there was another priority for those funds. A week after making that statement, he was singing a different tune.

Nugent sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, asking him to reserve the high-speed rail funds for other projects in the state, sending those dollars to Tallahassee -- with the idea that using them to pay down the national debt should be a secondary option.

“I have informed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the $2.4 billion in high-speed rail funds should be provided to the state of Florida, for the state to utilize for infrastructure at its discretion, rather than for high-speed rail, which Governor Scott and other officials have said will not be the best use of our money,” Nugent noted on Thursday.

“I have also told Mr. LaHood, if Florida is not given the flexibility to use its own funds as it sees fit, the money should be used to pay down the national debt that has, in part, been borrowed in Florida taxpayers' names over the years,” added Nugent.

“I believe that it is in the taxpayers' interest to build something that will yield the greatest return on their investment and one that best manages their risk over the long term,” he continued.

“With the national debt on an unsustainable course, it does not make sense to commit $2.4 billion to high-speed rail when Governor Scott and other Florida officials have indicated that other Florida infrastructure projects are more urgently needed. The day of reckoning about our federal budget is coming. And when it does, this rail line will be set against the other competing obligations of the federal government. This, and so many other initiatives like it, will fall short.  The states -- already burdened with a federal government that takes too big a share of America's tax revenue -- will be left with the tab.”

“Governor Scott, I believe, has expressed to you the infrastructure needs that the state is currently facing - ports and highways among them,” wrote Nugent in the letter to LaHood.  “If the administration sees fit to return Florida taxpayers' dollars to them, it is my wish - and my constituents' wish - that those dollars be returned to the state in such a way that Florida can determine for itself how best to use them.