Sen. Marco Rubio is pressing the case for dealing with the nation’s debt crisis, but says the Obama administration seems determined not to acknowledge a crisis even exists.
“I understand that at the end of the day both sides are going to have to give and take a little bit to get a budget,” Rubio told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Thursday. “But how can you give and take . . . if the other side’s not even at the table.”
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The Florida Republican — often mentioned as a potential vice presidential running mate with Mitt Romney — called it “outrageous” that the real crisis facing the nation is that the administration doesn’t think there is a debt crisis.
“We are having a debt ceiling crisis on a daily basis and here’s why,” Rubio insisted. “Because this government is spending every year one and half trillion dollars more than it takes in.
“That has to be dealt with; it is not going to solve itself, it’s not going to go away on its own, and every year that it remains unresolved, the harder it’s going to become to solve,” he continued.
The senator appeared to agree with House Speaker John Boehner, who said earlier this week that any increase in the debt ceiling would have to be offset by spending cuts — a remark that some interpreted as a threat to shut down the government.
Boehner was immediately accused by the administration of trying to create an election-year crisis because the question of raising the debt ceiling won’t even come up again for a vote in Congress until next year.
What the speaker was trying to say, Rubio insisted, was simple: “Where is the sense of urgency here?”
Rubio also rejected a suggestion from former President Bill Clinton that perhaps the only way to deal with the debt issue is to raise taxes on everyone, regardless of income level.
“If you raise taxes on people that don’t have jobs, what’s the point? If you raise taxes on an economy that isn’t growing you’re going to destroy it,” Rubio told Cavuto, adding that the only way he sees to resolve the problem is “rapid, explosive economic growth combined with a new sense of fiscal discipline.”
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“More people working, more people paying taxes. And then use that money to pay down the debt,” Rubio said. “That’s how you solve this problem. I think that’s something both parties should be able to agree on, but, unfortunately, it’s become part of this back and forth in the political cycle.”
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