RUBIO: [E]very president has to be judged by the times in which he lives. This President has now been in charge for two and a half years, okay? He has--he has increased federal spending by twenty-eight percent. Washington went along with his prescription for joblessness which was the stimulus package, and unemployment is higher than it was when he took over, significantly higher. In fact, we have not had unemployment this high for this long since the Great Depression with no signs of it getting better. Over twenty million Americans today as they watch this program are either unemployed or underemployed. And none of the things he said we need to do in order to turn that around have worked.
As far as waiting long to deal with this, here are the facts, I-- I came to the Washington in January. We already knew this debt limit issue was upon us, nothing happened during the State of the Union. He proposed a budget that was so ludicrous not even the Democrats and the Senate would vote for it, a-- a budget that increased the debt, not solved it. Months went by, weeks went by and up until very recently the President was completely disengaged from this debt limit debate. And I do think that in the context of politics, there was a strategy to leave this to the last possible moment so that there would be a take it or leave it scenario like what some are painting right now.
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This is not a game. This is a very serious issue, people watching at home they don’t care who’s going to win this debt limit debate. They want to know how come they can’t find a job and the answer is because until America has a credible solution to its debt problem, people will be afraid to invest in America’s economy and create jobs here at home.
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So where is the President’s plan? I’ve never seen a piece of paper with the President’s name on it that his plan to solve this problem. I’ve seen press conferences. I have seen lectures that he’s given to the Congress. I have seen these press avails where the camera comes in and takes a bunch of pictures. I haven’t seen a plan, where is the President’s plan?
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The full faith in credit of the United States is in danger if all we do is raise the debt limit and it’s not accompanied by a credible plan to begin to deal with this debt issue. And it’s not me saying it. It’s Standard & Poor’s saying it. It’s the rating house are saying it. I think people every time they cite these reports on their-- in the media outlets, they need to read the full report. Because if you read the full report, they say yes, we’re concerned about the U.S. not voting to raise its debt limit. But we’re really concerned about the fact that the United States and its government does not have a credible plan to deal with the debt and the only credible plan to deal with the debt is not simply raising the debt limit, you must also have budgetary reforms put in place that show how you are going to save money and pro-growth strategies that show how
you’re going to grow your economy. If we don’t do that, we are in a lot of trouble.
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I think everybody in Washington would like to see more revenues. The question is number one how do you get more revenues? And number two, what do you do with it? I think more revenue should come from economic growth. And I think it should come from that because I think it’s impossible for it to come from tax increases. None of the tax increases the President is proposing solves the problem. They don’t raise enough money. In fact, they make it worse. They kill jobs. And by the way, I don’t trust Washington, because they have shown time and again that any time they get their hands on more money, they don’t use it to pay or avoid debt, they use it to grow the government. So, that’s what I’m in favor of.
I’m in favor of-- of more revenue that comes from economic growth, the creation of new jobs. And if you talk to job creators, not politicians, not presidents, you talk to job creators, they will tell you that what they are looking for is a fair and simpler tax code, so I do support tax reform and I think there is a lot of support for tax reform in Washington. And they are looking for some regulatory reform as well because they think these regulations that are being imposed make America a more unfriendly place to do business.
Is it too soon to print the "Perry-Rubio 2012" bumper stickers?
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