CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript

Interview

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BOB SCHIEFFER: And joining us now is Senator Marco Rubio who is in Miami this morning.

Senator, of course, you were one of the first candidates to-- to win, who had the backing of the Tea Party. You're not part of the Tea Party Caucus in Washington, but you do know the thinking of a lot of people on that side of the street. I want to ask you, do you take seriously these dire warnings that the administration is putting out about what will happen if we don't make this
deadline on August 2nd?

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (R-Florida): Well, certainly the debt limit is an issue but I think the bigger issue here is the debt and I think what troubles me, Bob, is that no one is focusing on the real problem here. The real-- the real problem here is not the debt limit, the real problem here is the debt and a lack of a credible plan to deal with the debt. And it's not me saying, it is the rating houses are saying it. If you read the S&P report, they made it very clear that simply raising the debt limit is not enough it needs to be accompanied by some serious effort to credibly deal with the American's debt problem. And if that is not what we do we're going to have a big problem,
perhaps bigger than anything the administration has been talking about.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, would you support this deal that we were just talking about with-- with the-- the-- the senators just now, that Mitch McConnell is working along with Harry Reid, which basically gives the President the right to raise the debt limit and then allows the-- the Senate and the House to vote to disapprove that, basically, just a way that nobody has to take credit for raising the debt limit. Are you going to vote for that?

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Not as I understand it. The way the deal is currently structured right now it's just an ability-- it gives the President the ability to raise the debt limit but as I had said already on the program, the debt limit is not really the problem here, the problem here is the debt. The debt limit is actually the easiest part of the problem. It's one vote away from being solved. But if all we do is raise the debt limit and it is not accompanied by a credible solution to America's debt problem, we're in big trouble and I don't believe this plan as it has been outlined to me is a credible solution to our debt problem.

BOB SCHIEFFER: You have been very, very tough on President Obama and-- and especially lately, last week you actually accused him of bringing the government to the brink of default on purpose. Here's how-- how-- here I how you put it on Sean Hannity's broadcast on Fox.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (July 11, 2011; Fox News Hannity): This is not a surprise. This didn't sneak up on us in the last couple of weeks here. We've known about this since the day I got to Washington, I've been talking about it. They-- I think they deliberately let this thing go along because they were hoping to get to a last-minute situation where would-- they could force
us into a-- into a take it or leave it proposition, like they tried to do with the government shutdown earlier in the year, like they did with the stimulus package back in February, when he first took over. The-- the reality of it is none of these policy prescriptions the President has written has worked. Every aspect of life in America today is worse than it was when he took
over. Unemployment is higher, interest rates, everything is worse.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you really mean all of that literally, senator--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Sure.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --that everything in America is worse?

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): As far as--.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And I get-- I take it that it is all Barack Obama's fault.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, first of all, every president has to be judged by the times in which he lives. This President has now been in charge for two and a half years, okay? He has--he has increased federal spending by twenty-eight percent. Washington went along with his prescription for joblessness which was the stimulus package, and unemployment is higher than it was when he took over, significantly higher. In fact, we have not had unemployment this high for this long since the Great Depression with no signs of it getting better. Over twenty million Americans today as they watch this program are either unemployed or underemployed. And none of the things he said we need to do in order to turn that around have worked. As far as waiting long to deal with this, here are the facts, I-- I came to the Washington in January. We already knew this debt limit issue was upon us, nothing happened during the State of the Union. He proposed a budget that was so ludicrous not even the Democrats and the Senate would vote
for it, a-- a budget that increased the debt, not solved it. Months went by, weeks went by and up until very recently the President was completely disengaged from this debt limit debate. And I do think that in the context of politics, there was a strategy to leave this to the last possible moment
so that there would be a take it or leave it scenario like what some are painting right now. And I repeat--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: --this is not a game. This is a very serious issue, people watching at home they don't care who's going to win this debt limit debate. They want to know how come they can't find a job and the answer is because until America has a credible solution to its debt problem, people will be afraid to invest in America's economy and create jobs here at home.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, aren't you going to have to concede, though, Senator, that maybe the previous administration might have had a little something to do with--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Sure. But--

BOB SCHIEFFER: --the bad economy that the President inherited when he came into office. I mean, and-- and the other part is, when you say--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): So when does it start getting better, Bob?

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): --when you-- but-- well, let me just ask you this, you keep saying that, you know, this is a surprise to everybody. I mean, the-- the Treasury secretary has been-- has been warning for months that we needed to do something about this. I-- I-- I'm not sure that's factually correct for you to say that--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Okay. Well, where is the President plan?

BOB SCHIEFFER: --he surprised everybody.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: All right. So where is the President's plan? I've never seen a piece of paper with the President's name on it that his plan to solve this problem. I've seen press conferences. I have seen lectures that he's given to the Congress. I have seen these press avails where the camera comes in and takes a bunch of pictures. I haven't seen a plan, where is the President's plan?

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, where are the concessions that the Republicans are willing to make? I heard the President just this week, saying yeah, he'd be willing to talk about means testing for people on Medicare. I-- I don't hear any concessions from people on the other side. They just say no taxes, and-- and that's their negotiating posture.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Well, I don't think that's an accurate reflect-- I can only speak for myself. I come from a state that has a massive number of retirees and I've stood before cameras like this and made it very clear that if we don't do something to save Medicare and Social Security they will bankrupt themselves and bankrupt our country. That those-- those
programs are unsustainable as they are currently structured, that we are going to lose those programs unless we do something to deal with it. I did that during the campaign and everybody told me I'd lost my mind in terms of talking about these issues. So I think as far as I am concerned and many like me, we have stepped up and talked about some of these issues that face America. I mean, senator, I'm sorry, Representative Ryan, Congressman Ryan has played a terrible political price early on this year for even offering a potential solution to some of these problems.

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well, what is--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: I am not sure that's a fair assessment.

BOB SCHIEFFER: What is-- what is your plan to save Social Security, senator? Are you ready for means testing on Social Security? Raise a-- raise the premiums? What is it that you're--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Well, Social Security doesn't have premiums, it has-- here's what our--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well, I-- you're-- you're correct, I-- I misspoke. But--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Okay. And Social Security--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): What-- what would you do?

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, I talk about this on the campaign. First of all, we don't have to do anything for current beneficiaries, people like my mom or people near retirement. I do think we have to look at the retirement age. I do pe-- do think that people like me, I'm forty, just turn forty a month ago, people like me have to accept the fact that there will not be a Social Security
for us, unless we are willing to retire a little bit later. That's-- that's-- and people in my generation are going to have to accept that. And I am open to other people's suggestions. Absolutely, I'm open to people's suggestions, because I want to save Social Security and I want to save Medicare. As far as our solutions are concerned to the overall problem I think a credible solution to our debt problem has to have two components. It has to have budgetary reforms, in essence a de-- decrease in spending, of at least four trillion dollars or more and it has to come with some sort of growth enhancers, something that helps grow our economy. You cannot get yourself out of this debt problem at nine percent unemployment with over twenty-four million Americans either unemployed or underemployed.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Are you ready to say that you will not vote for anything that lets the government go into default on its debts? Are you willing to let that happen?

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think that if all we do is raise the debt limit, that's exactly what we're doing. The full faith in credit of the United States is in danger if all we do is raise the debt limit and it's not accompanied by a credible plan to begin to deal with this debt issue. And it's not me saying it. It's Standard & Poor's saying it. It's the rating house are saying it. I think
people every time they cite these reports on their-- in the media outlets, they need to read the full report. Because if you read the full report, they say yes, we're concerned about the U.S. not voting to raise its debt limit. But we're really concerned about the fact that the United States and its government does not have a credible plan to deal with the debt and the only credible plan to deal with the debt is not simply raising the debt limit, you must also have budgetary reforms put in place that show how you are going to save money and pro-growth strategies that show how you're going to grow your economy. If we don't do that, we are in a lot of trouble.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Can you have meaningful reform here without increasing revenues in some way closing what some people call loopholes, eliminating what others call deductions? Aren't you going to have some -- have to have some way to increase revenues--

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Well--

BOB SCHIEFFER: --that goes beyond just cutting taxes?

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: --I think everybody in Washington would like to see more revenues. The question is number one how do you get more revenues? And number two, what do you do with it? I think more revenue should come from economic growth. And I think it should come from that because I think it's impossible for it to come from tax increases. None of the tax
increases the President is proposing solves the problem. They don't raise enough money. In fact, they make it worse. They kill jobs. And by the way, I don't trust Washington, because they have shown time and again that any time they get their hands on more money, they don't use it to pay or avoid debt, they use it to grow the government. So, that's what I'm in favor of. I'm in favor of-- of more revenue that comes from economic growth, the creation of new jobs. And if you talk to job creators, not politicians, not presidents, you talk to job creators, they will tell you that what they are looking for is a fair and simpler tax code, so I do support tax reform and I think there is a lot of support for tax reform in Washington. And they are looking for some
regulatory reform as well because they think these regulations that are being imposed make America a more unfriendly place to do business.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: When anybody-- when people tell you, communist China is a better place to do business than America, you know you're in trouble.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Okay, well, senator we have to-- stop it there, the clock's run out. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Thanks Bob. Thank you.

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