News

Senator Marco Rubio

“The Jim Turner Show”

WDBO-AM Orlando

March 3, 2011

Senator Rubio Calls Continuing Resolution “A Terrible Way To Run A Government”:

Jim Turner: “Well, back to the whole budget thing, though, what happens now on March the 18th when the extension runs out?”

Senator Rubio: “Well, first of all, this is a terrible way to run a government. This is not usual. Usually, the government passes a budget. The fact of the matter is, not to get overly partisan here, but the Democrats who were in charge here in Washington over the last four years didn’t pass a budget last year. They didn’t even bring a single budget bill to the floor. They pass what they call these ‘continuing resolutions,’ which is a fancy word for ‘permission to continue to spend money at the same rate.’ But we don’t have a budget, so that’s the big problem here—there’s no budget in Washington. They’re basically just funding what they used to do in the past, and that’s got to be fixed. So this is no way to run a country or a government, and the bigger picture issue is how we deal with the debt.”

Senator Rubio Says EPA’s Numeric Nutrients Regulations “Go Way Too Far” And Hurt Florida Businesses:

Jim Turner: “Let me move onto this EPA water regulations. I heard a little bit about this…most people don’t know what we’re talking about when we say ‘EPA water regulations for Florida’ which are being proposed. Tell us what the deal is with that.”

Senator Rubio: “Well, again, not to get overly complicated, first of all, this is a general problem going on with regulations as we speak. They’re onerous, they cost a bunch of money, they hurt economic development, so forth and so on. By the way, we’re not against all regulations – there is a room for regulation and a need to keep our water clean and our air clean, and to make sure people don’t hurt each other, but this one goes way too far. The problem with it is, number one, the science behind it is not good. It doesn’t justify the massive economic pain that this is going to inflict on industries from tourism to agriculture. Number two, it singles Florida out. It’s the only state this is being applied to in comparison to other states. In fact, it’s so ludicrous to that we are being asked to clean up water that is coming up from Georgia and places like that just north of us. Because the water’s flowing into our state, we’re being forced to clean that up. Number three, it actually singles Florida out because Florida has water standards that are state water standards that we set up. So hopefully, we can figure out a way to keep this from taking effect. Last year, they gained a delay. Both Bill Nelson and George LeMieux, who was here at the time, wrote a letter to the EPA, and the EPA delayed implementation. But that time has expired; now they’re looking to implement, and it would be disastrous for Florida’s economy.”