Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage throughout Florida’s Gulf Coast, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with local officials and volunteers from the barrier islands to discuss the storm’s impact and current recovery efforts. Photos are courtesy of...
Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm, causing catastrophic damage along Florida’s Gulf Coast. It’s crucial for the federal government to expedite state-requested resources and authorize key policy flexibilities in order for Floridians to make a swift...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host two in-person events to assist constituents affected by Hurricane Helene and help navigate applications for FEMA assistance. Food, water, and additional resources will be available at the events. Event...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host in-person and virtual Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of...
Following the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Debby, some local governments in Florida face looming budget shortfalls that could disrupt disaster recovery efforts. If these local governments receive reimbursements for past hurricanes from the Federal Emergency...
Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic path through northwest Florida, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with local officials and volunteers from Citrus County. Senator Rubio also met with small business owners impacted by the storm. Photos are courtesy of...
Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined American Family Radio’s “Washington Watch” to discuss Planned Parenthood improperly receiving a Paycheck Protection Program loan and the surprising shift in the Supreme Court. See below for highlights and listen to the full interview here.
On how Planned Parenthood received a Paycheck Protection Program loan:
“One of the things we’ve been asking of the SBA is who authorized these loans when it was clear they didn’t meet the affiliation rules. … These affiliates fall under the direct control of the parent organization … so the fact that they got the money is disturbing.”
On whether Rubio is hopeful that the Administration will take action against Planned Parenthood:
“[The Justice Department] doesn’t usually write you a letter to say they’re going to begin an investigation. They begin an investigation. Usually they don’t publicize those things. Eventually people find out, it works its way into the public domain.
“I am more disturbed that the SBA has not been more responsive about the examination of it, but I have reason to believe that they too are looking at it, how it happened, and what their options are from a regulatory standpoint. But as of yet, we haven’t seen the proactive, public measures that you would want to see.
“What’s clear in my mind is that Planned Parenthood wants this fight, and that they have plenty of allies in the broader media who are going to be protective of them. [The media] will go after a business that sells hamburgers — like Shake Shack or what have you — but they won’t go after an organization such as this, because it falls within the orthodoxy and they’ll overlook that sort of deal. So it’s unfortunate but it’s not one we’re going to give up on.”
On the Supreme Court’s shift under Chief Justice John Roberts:
“The Supreme Court is an appellate court, it is not a policy making branch. … It seems oftentimes when you start to read some of these opinions that you can sense in it this effort to reach an outcome on a policy front and then they really go through these verbal gymnastics to justify how they got to that policy decision, but in the end it was a policy decision. And we’ve had a number of rulings this term that read that way.”
On the importance of nominating qualified originalists to lower courts:
“[Recent decisions] highlights the importance of nominating people who are smart and qualified to the lower courts … and on that front, I am very proud — not just here in Florida, but across the country — of the quality of the judges getting on the court, both at the appellate and the trial level. These are young originalists who understand the proper role of the courts in our federalist system and are going to be future candidates for the Court down the road.”