Senator Marco Rubio Hits it Out of the Park on Debt Ceiling

On Tuesday, Senator Marco Rubio took to the floor of the United States Senate to respond to President Obama’s desires to “raise revenue” as it pertains to the debt ceiling. Senator Rubio flat out hit it out of the park on this issue. Senator Rubio gets it to a degree so many Republicans are failing to understand thus far. I could explain more, but rather, let’s let the Senator speak for himself.  For the record, Senator Rubio hits the stage just after the 3 minute mark:




I won't dive into the entire speech, but I do recommend it. One important note, however, that he makes.  The math doesn't add up on Obama's "revenue generation."  With all the proposed taxes, we would only deal with less than ten days of current deficit spending.  That's a drop in the bucket folks.

Here's a few excerpts from the speech with my thoughts:

Here's the bottom line: These tax increases they're talking about. These so-called revenue enhancers, they don't solve the problem. So what do we do then?


One, we have to hold the line on spending, if you keep digging yourself in the hole, the hole is going to bury you, the other thing is how do you start generating revenue for government so you can start paying down this debt? That’s what the debate should be about.

Senator Rubio is saying precisely what I’ve been saying for the past months: We have a spending problem. If we spend more and more, we’re just digging the hole deeper. We need to spend less money, not raise more revenue. Liberals have tried to raise more revenue and it doesn’t balance the budget. Don’t give me the Clinton argument, folks. Clinton cut spending heavily and that’s what balanced the budget, not raising taxes.

We already know these taxes don't work. Here is what I suggest works in a balanced approach, using the President's terminology. Let's stop talking about new taxes and start talking about creating new taxpayers, which basically means jobs.

Here in Washington, this debt is the number-one issue on everyone's mind, and rightfully so. It is a major issue. But everywhere else in the real world, the number one issue on everyone's minds is jobs. …


We don't need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system. Then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again. That's what we should be focused on, and that's what we're not focused on.

Bingo. Unemployment is over 9%. We don’t need new stimulus and new spending or even continued spending. We need JOBS. Government spending didn’t work. If it had worked, we wouldn’t need to have this conversation. We need to spend less, have the discipline to not spend more than we have. Raising the debt ceiling is saying “I know we’ve been spending far too much, but we need to spend more than that, so give us more money to burn.”

You look at all these taxes being proposed, and here's what I say. I say we should analyze every single one of them through the lens of job creation, issue number one in America. I want to know which one of these taxes they're proposing will create jobs. I want to know how many jobs are going to be created by the plane tax. How many jobs are going to be created by the oil company tax I heard so much about. How many jobs are created by going after the millionaires and billionaires the president talks about? I want to know: How many jobs do they create?


I’ll answer Senator Rubio’s rhetorical question: Zero. The removal of oil company subsidies will cause oil companies to have to cut costs. That means they will at least not be hiring new workers if not laying off some of the workers so they can maintain their necessary margins to make the risk of their investment worthwhile. Same goes for those private jets. Do you think millionaires and billionaires build those planes? Heck no. It’s done by blue collar American workers. So their jobs are in jeopardy if the cost of those planes goes up thus meaning fewer people are buying them because the price has risen.

That’s the real issue at hand. The President is going to hurt the job market by raising taxes. Those attempts to “raise revenue” won’t have static results. Raising taxes 10% on a particular product won’t automatically result in a net 10% gain. The price rises and less will be purchased, for one. For two, such measures inevitably cost jobs, which will mean fewer taxpayers, which leads to lower than projected tax revenue. It’s a negative cycle that continues when you keep raising taxes.

No, we have spent too much. We have reached a point where we cannot spend further. It is time to stop spending more money than we have in the bank. You know, American families have to do? It’s time to live within our means. Get the spending down to the just over $2 Trillion that we take in.

Cut taxes, by the way, and you will raise more revenue. History proves that when you cut marginal rates business owners tend to reinvest in their businesses and that means more people paying taxes. For a responsible change, when we do bring in more revenue than we need, reduce taxes further rather than rushing to spend that money. Capitalism is the solution to this economy, not more Keynesian redistribution and government spending. That plan has failed. It’s been given two and a half years to work. It’s gotten us more of the same.

Senator Rubio is right: We need to create an economic climate that will be positive for business growth. Government doesn’t create jobs. The same millionaires and billionaires, who Obama wants to soak for every cent he can to continue his irresponsible spending, are the ones who create jobs. Right now they are on defense. They are afraid to hire because they quite frankly don’t know what that new job will cost thanks to Obama’s confiscatory tax plans. The cost of doing business might go up if Obama has his way, so business owners aren’t hiring. Remove that doubt and businesses will hire and we will create taxpayers.

Senator Rubio hit the nail on the head in this speech. None of Obama’s plans will create jobs. They will cost jobs. It’s time for the government to stop spending 50% more than they take in. It’s irresponsible. I can’t do that. Neither can you. Time to live within our means, Mr. President. Your party’s years of spending billions and even trillions more than we have so you can secure votes are over. Same goes for the Republicans who have chosen to spend like Liberals. (You’re staring down the barrel of a Tea Party primary in your next election, by the way.) Time to live within our means.

On a final note, I want to say that every time I hear Senator Rubio speak I get chills. He gets it. The young Conservatives on the national stage get it, and Marco Rubio is one of the most prevalent among them. I wasn’t alive in 1964 to hear Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” speech, but I imagine this is what it felt like to hear a once in a lifetime Conservative leader step onto the national stage and take the mike and lead. I’ve made a few political predictions in my time, and there are a couple still out there waiting to be seen. I think we’re going to see President Rubio one of these days. Not in 2012, mind you, but someday. He’s a man who gets it, and boy we need people like him to lead.

Senator Rubio, I commend you. You’ve said what needs to be said. Thank you for leading while those who are officially in leadership are trying to wimp out. Keep fighting the good fight for America. It’s not going unnoticed.
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