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Florida is projected to have a $3.8 billion budget surplus next year, but multi-billion-dollar deficits are expected in the following years.

State economists attribute the looming deficits to a revenue forecast that cannot keep up with the current rate of spending growth.

Potential spending cuts may target education and health care, which constitute over two-thirds of the state budget.

With a big surplus looming next year but multi-billion-dollar deficits right behind it, House budget chief Lawrence McClure says state lawmakers must cut deeper now to head off the red ink ahead.

“I intend for the House to dig even deeper this year,” McClure said during a meeting of the Legislative Budget Commission on Sept. 12. “Everyone understands we’ve got to keep chipping away a

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