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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Fox and Friends to discuss American’s need to make a living during the pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program, Democrat hypocrisy in handling COVID-19 restrictions, and the prospect of a Biden Administration. See below for highlights and watch the full interview here.
On the need to make a living during COVID-19:
“I think the overall majority of people understand this virus is a problem — and there’s things you have to do to be careful about it and try to mitigate against the risks … That said, there are some things that you’re going to have to be able to do no matter what the risk is, and one of those is make a living. People have to make a living. They have to work. They have to provide for their families. And to do that, they need their kids to be in school. And their kids, by the way, also need to be learning. They can’t afford — you know, we can’t afford to take a year off until we get a vaccine and not learn. So our jobs in public service, whether it’s in local, state, or federal government, is to provide the resources and the pathway so we can do those things.”
On the hypocrisy of Democrats in enforcing COVID-19 restrictions:
“The hypocrisy of during the campaign when Trump had a rally with a bunch of people, that was irresponsible. After the campaign when people took to the streets dancing and the crowd — tightly-packed crowds celebrating because of Biden, nobody said a word. And it’s the same with the stuff now. You’ve got these people that own a business that put their whole life’s work into it. And you’ve got some guy behind a Zoom camera on television who gets paid to work from home lecturing them about how they need to close their business and not work, and not employ people until they tell them it’s OK to do it. So it’s an enormous amount of hypocrisy and people are tired of it.
“One of the biggest hypocrisy here and in places like New York is they arrest someone for trying to work, but then they raise thousands of dollars and ask others to give money to bail out people who are committing arson, and burning police cars, and vandalizing cities.
“So think about that. You’re going to demonize people because they decide they’re going to work, but you are going to help bail out the ‘heroic’ arsonists and looters. It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy stuff and that’s what people are tired of.”
On the Paycheck Protection Program:
“The PPP portion was about 200 [billion] they put in [the bipartisan proposal]. We really need closer to $259 billion. … A lot of business now, either they’re not allowing you to operate or you’re at the mercy of market conditions. I mean, you’ve basically got political leaders telling people don’t go out. Don’t go shopping, don’t go eat at restaurants, don’t travel, don’t go here, don’t go there. So that even if they allow you to open, no one’s coming because they’re being told not to. So how do these guys stay afloat?
“You’re going to have a lot of small businesses go out of business forever if we don’t step up and help. And we should have done it a long time ago and the Democrats played political games with it.”
On governors’ handling of COVID-19:
“It’s partly that they like the power. I mean, they like the ability to step in and tell people you can’t do this or you can’t do that. And I think part of it is if you don’t do it as a leader you get beat up. Look, I think the perfect example is New York and Florida, OK?
“Governor DeSantis and the state of Florida is often characterized in most of the legacy media as some sort of COVID disaster, all right? But New York, who has less people than Florida, has more cases, more deaths. And nonetheless, their governor wins an Emmy because of his press conferences. I mean, this is stupid and this is the kind of hypocrisy. Again, people see this stuff.”
On the prospect of a Biden Administration:
“Well, I think a lot of it will depend on how Biden behaves. Is he going to sort of fall in line with the radicals in the Democratic Party that are already insisting that right out of the gate we do the clean — you know, the Green New Deal and all this other stuff, or he is going to try to get things done that both sides can agree on?
“Look, I want to be clear with you guys — and maybe some people watching aren’t going to like it — I’m not just going to be against stuff because Joe Biden’s for it. If it’s something I’m for and he’s for, my job is to do what’s best for the country. But we have to understand there are a lot of things that he’s for that I’m going to be against. That’s why I supported Donald Trump and that’s why I’m a Republican. And he’s got a lot of people around him who are far-left — and are going to push us in that direction. I’m not going to be for any of that stuff. I’m just going to tell you that upfront. I’ve never lied — I’ve never told anybody I’m a liberal Democrat.
“He’s surrounded by people and people in his orbit and people on his side of the aisle that the first thing they do is criticize Israel. …These are elements within the Democratic Party that are going to have a voice and they’re going to push the Democratic Party in a certain direction. So if that’s the kind of stuff we see from a Biden administration, yes, I’m going to be against it.”