Pensacola News Journal - Rubio: Political Stunts Took Your Blues Away

Op-Ed

By Senator Marco Rubio

This weekend, the skies over Pensacola Beach were not filled with the usual roar of F/A-18 Hornets or Fat Albert's four turboprops. There were considerably fewer people flocking to the white sand beaches from Fort Pickens to Via DeLuna. And Little Sabine Bay had fewer boats parked in its waters than in years past.

The Blues were grounded this weekend all because of a feckless decision made two years ago more than 900 miles away in Washington, D.C.

Two years ago, the so-called "sequester" was conceived by President Obama as part of the deal to raise the nation's debt limit and allow the federal government to borrow and spend trillions more.

As painful as the canceling of the Blue Angels' 2013 season has been for Pensacola, it is symbolic of a government that can't prioritize its budgeting decisions, and the much deeper impacts being felt in communities throughout America.

It's even more infuriating when you take into account how the Blue Angels figure in the grand scheme of our $3.8 trillion federal budget.

The Blue Angels' operating budget for 2013 is around $40 million, and canceling their 2013 season saved around $28 million. That's less than one percent of the total cuts made to the Navy's operating budget for the 2013 fiscal year.

There's little doubt these savings could have been found elsewhere.

For example, a Pentagon report recently released uncovered a massive, $34-million, 64,000 square foot building in Helmland province Afghanistan was built despite the fact that military commanders didn't ask for it and objected to it being built.

Today, the building sits empty while Pentagon officials are debating whether to turn the building over the Afghan Army, who may be unable to maintain the massive structure and will have to demolish it.

This is but one example of how the sequester has done nothing to root out legitimate waste and abuse in the federal government, but has instead hit individuals and communities hard.

President Obama's administration should be ashamed for trying to convince the American people that our only choices when it comes to dealing with the debt are either to leave government as big and bloated as it is, or accept a new reality where our people have to endure longer lines at the airport, endless flight delays, the loss of safety net medical assistance, the denial of education services, and many other inconveniences and negative effects to people's day-to-day lives.

I never liked the sequester idea in the first place, and that's why I voted against it when it came up as part of the Budget Control Act that also raised our debt ceiling without any real spending or pro-growth reforms of any kind.

For President Obama to continue the charade of making things like the Blue Angels the culprits of our debt and, therefore, the first thing on the chopping block when government must slim down is an insult to the American people.

We need to get serious about tackling our debt and growing our economy. Unless the President steps up to plate too, all of us -- especially our children and grandchildren -- will suffer from his political stunts that do nothing to put people back to work, solve our debt crisis or safeguard our national security.

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