South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Spending habits: Rubio's Idea on Rejected Millions Makes Sense

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By: Kingsley Guy

Marco Rubio, Florida's junior senator, is one of the brightest stars in the GOP constellation, and he could end up as president someday. For the moment, however, he seems content to consolidate his base and broaden his appeal among independent voters.

A presidential bid in 2012? Forget it. How about a vice-presidential slot? Doubtful. Rubio's smart enough to know that a premature run for executive office could cause him to flame out like a supernova. Rubio's just 40 years old, so he has plenty of time to nurture his presidential bonafides.

Rubio is an excellent communicator. He eschews platitudes, but is able to get across his message quickly and succinctly. His conservative credentials appeal to tea partiers in the GOP, but his approach to issues also attracts independent voters.

A case in point is a measure he's introduced in the Senate that would reduce the nation's deficit and also strike a nonthreatening blow for states' rights. U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Montana Republican, has introduced a similar measure in the House of Representatives.

Today, state officials are rejecting federal funding for various things, from high-speed rail to expansion of social programs. They're doing so because they recognize the strings attached would commit them to ongoing funding their states can't afford.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, for instance, rejected $2.4 billion for an ill-conceived Tampa to Orlando bullet train that would have required massive state operating subsidies all the way to the 22nd century. This would have drained Florida's treasury of money that could have gone for important things, such as education and Everglades restoration.

Currently, if a state turns down federal funding, the money is reallocated to other states. The Florida bullet train allotment now will be spent elsewhere, including California, whose own bullet-train project is turning into a massive black hole that will hasten the Golden State's bankruptcy.

With a national debt of $14.3 trillion, yearly deficits in excess of $1.6 trillion, and threats by Standard & Poors to downgrade the nation's credit rating, this funding transfer amounts to fiscal insanity.

Under the Rubio-Rehberg legislation, federal money rejected by states would be returned to the U.S. Treasury and earmarked for reduction of the federal deficit. Self-styled "progressives," who never met a bullet train, a hare-brained "green" initiative, or a welfare program they didn't like, will howl. But many independents, and even some fiscally sensible Democrats, will view the Rubio-Rehberg bill as a logical way to help reduce the hemorrhaging in the federal budget. Passage certainly wouldn't solve the budget crisis, but it would represent a small step in the right direction.

Rubio also has demonstrated a willingness to stand up to Democrats on Social Security and Medicare, and call for reform. He's even expressed support for Paul Ryan's controversial Medicare voucher plan, which would apply to people younger than 55 years old.

Democrats are banking on Social Security and Medicare demagoguery as the path to electoral success in Florida, which is the home of millions of elderly retirees. But Rubio has the intellectual and verbal wherewithal to explain to voters that the Democrats' "business as usual" approach will destroy these programs for everyone, and eventually bankrupt the country.

The nation stands not at a crossroads, but on a precipice. Failure to change its spending ways will topple it into bankruptcy, and eventually destroy it. Rubio understands this, and so do millions of America's senior citizens, who are concerned not so much with their own future, but with that of their children and grandchildren.

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