Issue Position: Spending

Issue Position

"I am gravely concerned by a federal government that continues spending money it doesn't have. In early 2009, I joined Florida's entire Republican congressional delegation in opposing the $787 billion stimulus bill. In the U.S. Senate, I will support measures like a balanced budget amendment and the line-item veto that will help control the excessive and wasteful spending in Washington that threatens to leave future generations with crushing debt and a country worse off than that of their parents and grandparents."

Cutting Government Spending

STAND WITH MARCO FOR LESS GOVERNMENT SPENDING…

Marco Rubio is gravely concerned by a federal government that continues spending money it doesn't have. In early 2009, he joined Florida's entire Republican congressional delegation in opposing the $787 billion stimulus bill. In the U.S. Senate, he will support measures like a balanced budget amendment and the line-item veto that will help control the excessive and wasteful spending in Washington that threatens to leave future generations with crushing debt and a country worse off than that of their parents and grandparents.

In Washington, Marco will work to:

* Freeze non-defense and non-veterans discretionary spending at pre-Obama levels and actually enforce our goals to cut spending and reduce the deficit by making automatic cuts if politicians won't.

* End the permanent lease on life that government programs are given. Too often, Congress creates a spending program, increases its funding and never looks back to actually see if it is working. We should mandate that all discretionary spending programs end every 10 years after the Census unless Congress specifically votes to continue them.

* Ban earmarks as Senator Jim DeMint proposed in Congress this year. This could save $15-20 billion annually and stop Congress from using pork barrel projects to buy votes for things like the health care bill.

* Cut the size of government by instituting a civilian hiring freeze across the federal government. Every new bureaucrat in Washington means more tax money taken out of your pocket or more spending borrowed from investors overseas.

* Cut the budgets of Congress and the White House by 10%. One of the first things Republicans did when they took over Congress in the 1990's was reduce the number of committees, committee staff, and cut the Congressional budget. We need to do it again, this time adding in the White House budget.

* Give the president the line-item veto pen.

* End the TARP bailout program and use the savings to pay down the debt. This administration is turning TARP into a permanent fund for their pet projects.

* End the wasteful stimulus program that has failed our country. Stimulus money that has not been spent should be used for something that will actually help the economy and create jobs, or be used to pay down the debt.

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