The Palm Beach Post - In Palm Beach, Rubio Blasts Obama's Budget

News Article

By: Jeff Ostrowski

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio bashed President Obama's $3.73 trillion budget as an irresponsible proposal that could create a "vicious debt spiral" by next year.

"His budget, if we follow it through, grows the debt astronomically over the next 10 to 12 years and bankrupts our country," Rubio told reporters at a stop in Palm Beach today.

Obama today proposed a 2012 budget would add $8 billion to the deficit. During a speech to members of the Palm Beach Business Group, Rubio said the current path of deficit spending will prove disastrous. He warned that rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's could downgrade U.S. debt, leading to higher interest rates and higher costs.

"You get into this vicious debt spiral that before long triggers a sovereign debt crisis," Rubio said. "This is not something that's going to happen 10 years from now. This is not something that's going to happen five years from now. This is something that could happen before the next election. I hope not, but it could."

Rubio said Congress and the president must rein in Social Security and Medicare spending, although he said he would not support cuts that would affect retirees who already are in the system.

"Younger workers, people like myself who are decades away from retirement, we're going to have to accept some reforms to the Social Security and Medicare system if we want Social Security and Medicare to still be around when we retire," Rubio said.

During a 40-minute speech, Rubio stressed the need for lower taxes and less regulation. Rubio, a Republican who was sworn into office last month, said the job market won't improve as long as employers are worried about rising taxes and new regulations from the Obama health care proposal.

"What do job creators do when they're faced with all this uncertainty? They do nothing," Rubio said.

Source