Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and some of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination slammed the Obama administration’s climate policies during a short exchange on the matter during their Wednesday night debate.
“We’re not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government we’re under wants to do,” Rubio said at the main-stage event. “Every proposal they put forward are proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America.”
{mosads}New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he wouldn’t insist on a “massive government intervention” to deal with climate change, but rather make clean energy “economically feasible” by expanding nuclear, natural gas and solar power as president.
Christie, Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker all hit Obama for pushing climate change policies designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, something they warned will wreak havoc on the American economy.
“We shouldn’t be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow, us, by ourselves are going to fix the climate,” Christie said.
Rubio, who has vowed to undo Obama’s landmark climate rules for power plants if he’s elected president, said he’s not skeptical of the science behind climate change, an accusation leveled against him by debate moderator Jake Tapper.
Rather, he said, he’s concerned about the impact Obama’s policies will have on the economy.
“I know the impact those are going to have, and those are all going to be on our economy,” he said.
“They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea, they will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California, but what they will do is make America a more expensive place to create jobs.”
The three candidates discussed climate change for only about four minutes on Wednesday night. Except for one question directed at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) during the first “happy hour” debate last month, it was the first time the GOP candidates have discussed the issue during their four debates this cycle.