When Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wakes up in his Miami home, all he has to do is look out the window to see the impact of the long-suffering economy on his neighborhood, where the median household income is $37,556.
What he sees among his neighbors, some working two or more jobs to pay bills, is driving his development of a new middle-class agenda to expand job creation, reduce college loan payments for those with low-paying jobs, beat poverty and bring working-class values to Washington.
For sure, it will help his 2016 re-election effort. But also for sure, it would work in a presidential campaign, giving him an immediate platform to present to Middle America.
Dragged down last year by the immigration debate that now seems stalled until at least 2015, Rubio is making his move on several fronts over the next two weeks. In speeches, he plans to outline a jobs agenda and give states block grants to fight poverty, ending the federal government’s top-down role.
And just in case he decides to run for the White House, he also is writing a companion policy book due out in the fall just as others from likely GOP primary candidates hit the market.
“It’s an agenda we think and hope Republicans will echo,” said an associate.
Rubio hasn’t decided if he will run for re-election or the White House. He expects to make a decision next spring or summer. With a good fundraising team behind him and established name recognition in the party, especially among Hispanic voters, advisers believe he can wait to announce a presidential bid.
DEMOCRATS JOIN TO FIGHT 30-HOUR WEEK
It’s taken nearly four years, but the first bipartisan bid to dismantle part of President Obama’s signature health reform law — the much-mocked 30-hour “work week” — is headed for passage in the House with Democratic help, according to legislation sponsors.
Republican leaders plan to bring the “Save American Workers Act” to the floor in March, and at least seven Democrats have pledged support, a small but significant first step toward bipartisan fixes to Obamacare that both sides are eyeing.
“It’s the first consequential bipartisan effort to fundamentally change the [Affordable Care Act],” said the original sponsor of the “SAW Act,” Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind. His bill would adopt a more traditional 40-hour work week. A similar bill has Democratic support in the Senate.
Young said the bill is a job creator and job-keeper, since thousands of small businesses have threatened to cut worker hours to below the 30-hour-a-week Obamacare mandate to avoid paying for health insurance.
AMERICANS WASTE 31 PERCENT OF THEIR FOOD
Nearly a third of the 430 billion pounds of food produced for Americans to eat is wasted, a potential catastrophe for landfills and a wake-up call to officials scrambling to feed the hungry, according to a stunning report from the Department of Agriculture.
The USDA revealed that in 2010, 31 percent, or 133 billion pounds, of food was wasted, improperly cooked, suffered “natural shrinkage” due to moisture loss, or tossed because people became disinterested in what they purchased.
“In 2010, an estimated 133 billion pounds of food at the retail and consumer levels in the United States went uneaten, and this amount is valued at $161.6 billion using retail prices. This amount of food loss translates into 141 trillion calories in 2010. These estimates suggest that annual food loss in the United States is substantial,” the agency said.
IS REID’S SENATE IN A ‘DEATH SPIRAL’?
An outspoken Republican senator who was among those wooed by Democrats and President Obama seeking compromise last spring, is flashing anger at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, warning that the Senate is “on the verge of a death spiral.”
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker said the majority leader’s Nov. 20 decision to deploy the so-called “nuclear option” to eliminate minority filibusters was “reprehensible” and broke the world’s greatest deliberative option.
As a result, Republicans have decided to go slow on President Obama’s ambassador nominations, using the few rules and tricks they can to pressure Reid to reverse course. Giving in, Corker said, would simply result in Democrats taking further advantage of Republicans.
“The United States Senate will not ever function in an appropriate way with the leadership we have in place,” said Corker, who has committed to help elect enough Republicans to give the GOP control after the fall midterm elections.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
