Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage throughout Florida’s gulf coast, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with the Florida Farm Bureau as well as local agricultural producers, farmers, and growers to discuss the storm’s impact. Photos are courtesy of...
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...
President Biden should stop appeasing Venezuela’s regime
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
June 18, 2024
President Joe Biden…has routinely appeased our nation’s adversaries, only to reward their aggression and criminality…. Consider the events of the last six months.
[Venezuelan narco-dictator Nicolás] Maduro violently suppressed peaceful protestors, threatened war against his neighbors, and hosted terrorist groups, but faced no repercussions from the White House. Instead, President Biden helped create a United Nations-operated assistance fund for the regime; lifted sanctions from its oil, gas, and gold sectors; and released a Maduro ally and convicted money launderer, Alex Saab, from U.S. prison.
The president hoped these rewards would convince Maduro to…permit free and fair elections next month. But…the narco-dictator…used the economic windfall to consolidate his grip on power, then banned the opposition’s presidential candidate, María Corina Machado, from running against him….
[T]he Biden Administration is contemplating additional sanctions relief, in the form of specific licenses for U.S. firms to do business in Venezuela, in the hopes that further rewards will encourage Maduro to do the right thing. The facts, however, suggest the opposite is likely….
Last month…, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, hand-picked by Maduro’s closest cronies, revoked an invitation for the European Union to send international observers to the upcoming elections…. Maduro is [also] positioning the opposition to take the blame for the forced sale of CITGO, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, which the narco-dictatorship’s own incompetence has loaded with debt. This proves Maduro, consistent with his record, is already playing dirty to keep himself in power….
Every American should hope for Venezuela to return to freedom and democracy. The way to pursue that is to demand that international observers supervise the elections and build a coalition of nations to reject the results of a flawed election…. Above all, the Biden Administration must tell Maduro and his cronies that Venezuela will receive not a cent of American money if he makes the wrong decision.
Regrettably, however, the administration has taken none of these steps….