Rubio blasts approaching budget deal

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) slammed the impending budget deal Tuesday between Budget Committee chairmen Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.).

While Rubio hasn’t yet seen the details of the deal, he said he had developed his position already based on early reports.

“What we really need is a government with less debt and an economy that is creating more stable middle class jobs. And my sense, from what I’ve read, is that this budget is going to fail to accomplish those goals,” he said in a radio interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.

{mosads}Budget negotiators from the House and Senate predicted Tuesday afternoon that a deal could be finalized before the end of the day.

The reported deal would reduce sequestration, or automatic spending cuts, by $65 billion to $85 billion over a two-year period. 

Democrats had pushed for extended unemployment benefits to be included in a budget deal. The White House and Democratic leaders, however, recently said that aid didn’t necessarily have to be included in the final deal anymore. 

The reported package, Rubio argued, “makes irresponsible decisions” by spending more money than the government takes in, imposing “burdens” on the public and canceling previous spending reductions. 

“This debt situation is very dangerous for the economy and the national security of the United States, both of them. It hurts our national security because a debt crisis would be extremely disruptive. But it also hurts job creation,” Rubio said. 

Lawmakers must strike a deal by Jan. 15 in order to avert another government shutdown.