This upcoming Sunday, the people of Venezuela will hold an election that, if legitimate, would put an end to years of the oppressive Maduro narco-regime. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued a statement in support of the Venezuelan people: “The...
Este próximo domingo, el pueblo venezolano tendrá una elección que, de ser legítima, pondría fin a años de opresión por parte del narco-régimen de Maduro. El senador estadounidense Marco Rubio (R-FL) grabó un mensaje de video en español y emitió una declaración en...
Twenty-three years ago, the United States was attacked by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001. Now, Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a U.S. court for his role in the attack, has requested the U.S. Department of Justice to allow a prisoner transfer...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host virtual Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of Senator Rubio’s...
As the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) opens up new facilities, many veterans are losing access to the VA’s Community Care Program and, consequently, their long-term healthcare providers. Veterans throughout the country have reported a loss of care, including...
The U.S.-India partnership is vital to countering influences from Communist China. In order to strengthen this partnership, it is essential to enhance our strategic diplomatic, economic, and military relationship with New Delhi. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined CBS Mornings to discuss Russia, Silicon Valley Bank, and Daylight Saving Time. See below for highlights and watch the full interview on YouTube and Rumble.
On collision of a Russian jet with a U.S. drone:
“A couple of things are important here. The first is this was a deliberate effort. This wasn’t some accident. It wasn’t some harassment effort that went awry. This was a design. They basically decided, ‘We are going to begin to shoot down U.S. assets,’ whatever’s flying in what they call ‘restricted airspace.’ It’s over international waters, international airspace. But they declare a restriction over it. For whatever reason, they want to conduct military operations. And they’re saying, ‘Anything that flies in there, we’re going to shoot it down.’
“This is a direct test of the Biden Administration, trying to see what the limits are. It’s a message of their displeasure. But more importantly, I think it’s a test to see if we’ll respond to it, if we’ll continue to fly or if this causes us not to fly in that area anymore.”
On how the U.S. should respond to Russian aggression:
“Our response should be to fly more of these [drones] in that area and to potentially have them escorted by U.S. fighter jets. These [drones] are unarmed platforms. They’re generally out there for reconnaissance to see what’s happening in the ocean, to have a situational awareness of what’s going on in the area, totally according to international law. I think we should fly more of them. We shouldn’t stop flying them. In many cases, we should be prepared to scramble jets and respond if they are threatened by Russian aircraft.”
On Russia’s war in Ukraine:
“Those of us who support some U.S. role in what’s happening there have an obligation to explain to people why it matters. Ukraine is not the most important national security issue facing America, but it’s not unimportant. There is a vital interest involved here. One [interest] is that we haven’t just invested money in Ukraine. We’ve invested our prestige and our credibility.
“The argument the Chinese are making is that the West is in terminal decline [and] the United States is rapidly declining, a once great superpower [that is] not going to take on China. So, if we were to cut and run now, if we were to walk away from our commitment to Ukraine, the Chinese would point to that and say to our allies, ‘How are you going to count on the United States? They’re not going to be there. They abandoned Afghanistan chaotically, and they didn’t do anything about it. They couldn’t even sustain an effort in Ukraine against Russia.’
“What we need to do is determine, what is it that Ukraine needs? Not what they want, but what do they need? Then we need to determine, how much of it can we afford to provide? We need to make sure none of it is misspent. And we have to get our allies, particularly rich countries like Germany, to do more and to do their part in that endeavor. But I don’t think our interests there are zero. And so our effort there should not be zero either.”
On the Silicon Valley Bank failure:
“I think you’ll hear today from officials at the federal government and within the Biden Administration that [the Dodd-Frank Reform Act of 2018] and the provisions therein have nothing to do with why these banks failed. This bank failed for very simple reasons. The way banks make money is the interest they make off the loans versus the interest they have to pay depositors. They had a bad balance on their hands. They didn’t have enough loans with enough interest, and the ones that were locked in were at low interest rates. And they were having to pay higher interest rates to their depositors.
“It’s also a very unique bank. Over 90 percent of its deposits were uninsured, meaning over $250,000, and they were heavily invested in and reliant on a handful of industry startups and tech companies, both of which are going through a tough time right now because of the economy and so forth. So the question we really have here is, are there more banks like this out there? And what are the systemic risks of those banks?
“But the majority of the mid-sized banks, community banks across this country don’t look anything like what Silicon Valley Bank looked like. I think the real question is, why did it take the San Francisco Fed and other agencies out there so long to spot this imbalance and this quirky situation of their books at that one bank? I think we need to learn more about how we got here.
“For example, over the weekend, it appears there were a number of private buyers, banks that were willing to step in and buy the assets of this bank and absorb it. And the federal government, federal regulators blocked it. That really is the ideal outcome here, for the bank to be bought by someone that absorbs it into a broader portfolio. Because the bank does have good deposits and good assets, it’s just that their mix in the smaller bank was not good. Why did the government block that?
“Now potentially every American with a bank account is going to have to pay higher bank fees, because the way you recover these insurance payments that are going to have to go out to guarantee these accounts, the way they’re going to pay for that guarantee, is they’re going to assess all the banks a fee, and those banks are going to pass that through to banking customers. So people that have nothing to do with that bank, that have small deposits, could potentially be paying higher fees as a result of the mismanagement of one bank.”
On making Daylight Saving Time permanent:
“I don’t know why we keep changing times back and forth. We should just pick one and stick with it. The one that we have eight months out of the year is Daylight Savings Time. I happen to like it, because one of the big problems we have in a lot of parts of this country is kids can’t do anything after school, because if you don’t have a park with lights, then you’re out of business by 4:00 or 4:30, 5:00. That’s a huge problem in many parts of the country.
“Other people disagree. They like it the other way around. My whole point is let’s stop switching back and forth. Let’s stick with one. And if we’re going to stick with one, let’s stick with the one we already use eight out of 12 months, and that’s Daylight Savings Time.
“Can we pass it? This is Washington. Someone always has a reason to be against something. But it’s not partisan. I don’t even know what you call [the opposition]. But the answer is, we’ll see. It doesn’t look right now like we have the votes to pass it, but we’ll keep trying.”