Marco Rubio: 'Other Issues Deserve Up and Down Vote'

And joining us now, the man who gave the republican response to president obama last night, senator marco rubio of florida. Good morning, senator. Thanks for joining us this morning. Good morning.... See More

And joining us now, the man who gave the republican response to president obama last night, senator marco rubio of florida. Good morning, senator. Thanks for joining us this morning. Good morning. Thank you. You laid out some very clear differences than the president last night on the core economics. I want to look at where there might be common ground. Let's go to the issue of guns, to begin with. We can't have any proposals that undeine second amendment rights. But do you agree with the president that there should be an up-or-down vote on his proposals? You can say that on any issue in washington. It has to work through the legislative process. There's other issues that should have an up-and-down vote, as well. We should have a budget. We should have a real plan to save medicare. We should have a real plan to grow our economy. All these deserve an up-or-down vote, as well. As we said last night, we were heartbroken and we were sympathetic on what happened in connecticut. We need to prevent that from happening again. Unfortunately, all of the things the president is proposing, none of them would have prevented what happened in connecticut. We need to look at the real root causes of violence in america. On the issue of immigration. The president said he wanted a responsible pathway to earn citizenship. You signed on to bipartisan principles for citizenship. But you didn't repeat it last night. Do you still share that goal? I'm part of that work group. We laid out our principles. I remain committed to those principles. Ultimately, it's not good for america, to have 11 million people who never have a chance to be invested in the american dream. There has to be a process to get there. They have to have a work p first. They have to earn the right to earn that green card. Once you have a green card, you're five years away from becoming a citizen. The big clash with the president last night on those core economic issues. And you know, across-the-board budget cuts are coming fast, on MARCH 1st. A potential government shutdown at the end of march. The president asked the members of congress to promise not to shut down the government. Not to do anything to undermine the full faith and credit of the pledge. No one is talking about shutting down the government. And as far as the automatic cuts, those are his ideas. He's the one that asked for that in the deal that passed last night. Those were signed on by democrats, republicans and the president alike. Well, I didn't vote for it. One of the reasons I didn't vote for it is because it was such a terrible idea. But I think it's wrong for him to insist on that. He actually came up with it originated in the white house, the idea of the automatic cuts, specifically hits defense and the military. Now, he's saying we have to get rid of them. Don't go on acting like he had nothing to do with it. The president preferred an alternative, as you know. He wanted to have a broader agreement with democrats and republicans to avoid the sequester. That was the failsafe. If he really prefers the broader alternative, when is he going to offer it? The budgets he has offered are so ridiculous, george, that not even democrats in the senate would vote for them. Finally, I have to ask you about the water bottle last night. Twitter went a little bit wild. You tweeted about the bottle yourself. You got it there again. You know, you showed an ability to laugh at yourself. Do you have anything to add to that tweet from last night? No. I needed water. What am I going to do? God has a funny way of reminding us we're human. You have a bigmile on your face. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, george. Let's go to josh elliott