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Washington D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Good Day Orlando to discuss the impacts of federal vaccine mandates on Florida, efforts to federalize Florida’s elections, inflation, and more. See below for highlights and watch the video here. 

On measuring COVID cases versus regular hospital cases:

 

“First of all, let me tell you why [balancing the information distribution of hospital cases] is relevant. It’s relevant because it gives you an indication as to the severity of the illness. We make public policy decisions about what should close, what should open, who should go back to work, and who shouldn’t on the basis of how bad something is. Clearly the hospitalization trends are not as bad as they were for [the Delta variant] or any of the other variants. That’s a fact. 

 

“The truth is, it’s not just Florida. Massachusetts has now started to report the difference between those admitted with COVID and for COVID. New York did the same. Multiple Florida hospitals have begun to do so as well. 

 

“That doesn’t mean that a patient that’s in the hospital because of a broken leg, but happens to have COVID, doesn’t have to be treated a little different, and it puts strain on the hospital in that sense. But there’s a big difference between the hospital being overrun by patients that are there because COVID is the primary diagnosis and patients who are there but are members of the general population and happen to have COVID, even though they’re there for some other reason, like a car accident. 

 

“If cases are surging among people on the street, cases are obviously going to surge among staff, and they’re going to surge among the people that are being admitted to hospitals. So that’s important. That distinction is important because it gives you indications about how severe [the Omicron variant] is compared to other variants.”

 

On the potential impact of federal vaccine mandates on Florida:

 

“The biggest concern is that you shouldn’t be firing people because they refuse to take a vaccine. I’m vaccinated. I think everyone should get vaccinated and I’ve encouraged everyone I know to do so. But I don’t believe the government should force you to do it. I don’t believe that you should get fired from your job for not doing it. 

 

“We allow people to come into this country illegally and stay, and we don’t ask if they’re vaccinated or force them to get vaccinated. But the border patrol agents get fired from their job if they’re not vaccinated. 

 

“There are hospitals and other health care facilities that are now asking COVID-positive staff to come into work after two or three days, but they’ll fire them if they’re not vaccinated. So there’s a lot of ridiculousness here. 

 

“At the end of the day, this is a free country and you can’t be telling people what to do. When it comes to a vaccine like this, especially something that’s been on the market now for about a year.”

 

On the ability to vote in America today:

“There is no voting rights issue. It’s all made up. There is no suppression of minority votes in this country. 

 

“We had historic voting turnout in 2020 across the country. It’s never been easier to vote than it is today in America. In Florida, for example, you can vote by mail, you can vote two weeks out by advance, you can vote on Election Day for 12 hours. It’s never been easier to register [to vote]. They register you coming right out of high school. You can register at a post office or at your local library. 

 

“The truth of the matter is that this is all made up. This is all designed to have the federal government take over elections and make it a national mandate that every state has to offer ballot harvesting, every state has to offer same day registration, states can’t have restrictions on voter ID or require voter ID. 

“This is all an effort to federalize elections because Democrats believe that creating Election Day chaos will make it likelier for them to win races. This is an invented crisis for political purposes. 

 

“Meanwhile, the real crisis [is] empty store shelves, hyperinflation, Russia on the verge of invading Ukraine, China threatening Taiwan and the United States. All these real issues are being ignored.” 

 

On rapid inflation spreading across the United States:

 

“[The government] needs to stop making [inflation] worse… We need to begin to make more things in the United States. Part of the challenge we have is supply chain driven. The less there is of something and the more people want it, the more they’re going to charge for. We just don’t make enough things in America, and we rely on too many things that are made in China. We need to reverse that. 

 

“We have people in this country that are being told to not come into work even if they test [negative] because their kid tested positive three or four days ago, even though the kid has no symptoms and the person has no symptoms. They tested negative and they’re still being told to stay home for 10 days, stay home for seven days. That means less workers. The harder it is to find workers, the more you have to pay those workers, the more you have to pay those workers, the more you have to charge your customers, clients, or suppliers and so forth. It becomes a real challenge for inflation. Government policies are driving that. 

 

“The other [cause] is the amount of money that the federal government wants to pour, and has poured into, the economy. You put all this money into the street chasing a limited or less number of goods, inflation is gonna go up. Government has to stop making things worse. So far everything that the Biden Administration is doing would make it, has made it, and will make it worse.” 

 

On the Democrats’ radical efforts to change America:

 

“[The current climate in the Senate is] very political as you can see. It’s not good in that sense. Some big issues that are being ignored because of this drive to do the Build Back Better Socialist plan, which they can’t get through. 

 

“Now this push on the fake issue of voter suppression. The hyperbole surrounding last week’s ceremonies around January 6, a terrible day for sure, but certainly saturated for political purposes as well. I think it’s a bad climate, unusually bad, unfortunately. I think that’s ultimately bad for this country. 

 

“The Democratic Party did not win. This is an evenly divided country. They didn’t get the sort of majority [they wanted]. They have a tied Senate with a very narrow majority in the House. They didn’t get a mandate to fundamentally transform America. 

 

“Now they’re trying to ram through a transformation, but they don’t have the votes for it, so they want to change the rules to do it. That’s the fundamental challenge here, and it’s creating a very difficult climate right now, unfortunately.”