Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has grown a reputation as someone who doesn’t joke around about getting things taken care of for the people of Florida. As someone who grew up in the Miami area, he knows firsthand the problems that can come from illegal immigration, as well as the reasoning behind small businesses employing them so often. He doesn’t like a lot of fluff when he introduces a bill, rather he wants things to be voted on either in bunches by the related issue, or singularly.
When it comes to the relief for people in the State of Florida because of Hurricane Ian, he isn’t playing around or accepting the extra add-ons, either. Speaking with CNN “State of the Union” co-anchor Dana Bash, he was asked about voting against extra spending for things that are not related to hurricane damages. “Sure, I’ll fight against it having pork in it. That’s the key. We shouldn’t have that in there, because it undermines the ability to come back and do this in the future.”
This kind of stance is not popular in Washington, but it’s also the kind that the Republican Party needs to see more of. The left has been using political and journalistic pressure to force the vote for decades as they cram bill votes full of unrelated causes. When that happens, it makes it incredibly difficult to go change something in the future.
Back in 2012, both Sen. Rubio and then Rep. DeSantis voted against bills in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane had pummeled the southeastern section of NY and absolutely decimated much of NJ. Each caught ample flack on the hill, and in the press for their stance, but did so willingly.
In multiple interviews and other comments, each explained that they wouldn’t support a bill with the insane add-ins that so many wanted to see included. Other Republicans wanted to see some spending cuts included with the bill, something Rubio has voted for before. He also said he has voted for relief without pay-fors before as well.
During the rest of his interview with Bash, she kept pushing the issue, wanting to take aim at some of his examples. To make this more efficient, Rubio simplified the whole discussion.
“Unfortunately, they loaded it up — they really did — with a bunch of things that had nothing to do with Sandy. But I voted for every disaster relief package, especially that’s clean, and I’ll continue to do so when it comes to Florida. We are capable in this country in the Congress of voting for disaster relief after key events like this without using it as a vehicle or a mechanism for people to load it up with stuff that’s unrelated to the storm.”
These kinds of bills make it impossible to get things passed. It’s almost as difficult as holding sessions of the Senate or Congress with only 10% of the people elected to serve being present. While they vote on hundreds of bills a year, it seems that things are being perennially stalled out in favor of getting personal pork slipped in or of getting a quid pro quo. It’s not right.
Back when this country was founded, the idea was to have representatives from various demographics of the U.S. to represent the interests of the people back home. It worked well, and a lot was accomplished in a short amount of time. Even through the 1800s and The Great Depression, it was still effective. WWI, WWII, and Vietnam were no match for it. The nation was able to keep going.
Since then, the left has undertaken every step they can stumble through to bastardize the very foundation of that process. They skip votes, jam-pack in the pork, and, thankfully, people like Sen. Rubio are here to try and stem the tide away from this leftist trash and get America back on track.
