Marco Rubio’s 7 Top Achievements in U.S. Senate

Following Rick Santorum’s inability to name a single achievement of Sen. Marco Rubio, the media sought to answer the question for themselves. Yet many reporters appear to have come up empty handed.

{snip}

Though Rick Santorum was unable to name the accomplishments of the man he just endorsed, there are indeed several accomplishments that are quite noteworthy. Below are a few of Sen. Rubio’s achievements that Rick Santorum could have identified on MSNBC this morning:

(1) The Rubio-Schumer Gang of Eight Bill

The Washington Examiner’s Byron York has described the 2013 Rubio-Schumer bill as Rubio’s “signature accomplishment.” Although Santorum seemed reluctant to mention it, Rubio’s immigration bill is probably the first accomplishment that comes to mind when anyone thinks of Rubio’s very brief career in the U.S. Senate.

Rubio’s immigration bill would have tripled the issuances of green cards, doubled the dispensation of foreign worker visas, and granted citizenship–and, thereby, welfare access and voting privileges–to illegal immigrants.

Reports ranging from the The National Review, to the Tampa Bay Times, to the Washington Post, to the New Yorker have all suggested that the Gang of Eight bill would have likely not passed the Senate if not for Sen. Rubio’s tireless efforts. Indeed, Rubio was the key salesman of the Obama-backed immigration agenda. As Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker reported at the time, Rubio served as “the Gang’s official ambassador to the right,” and was able to convince prominent conservatives to promote the open borders legislation.

{snip}

(2) Obamatrade

Sen. Rubio cast the 60th and deciding vote to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. By giving President Obama fast-track powers, Rubio essentially helped to ensure the passage of not only the TPP, but all subsequent trade pacts, which are now liberated from Senate filibuster, amendment process, and constitutional treaty vote.

{snip}

(3) Blocking Curbs to Muslim Immigration

Rubio told Sean Hannity he’d “hate” to block funding for Obama’s refugees, and suggested that curbs on Muslim migration would be unconstitutional. This pro mass-migration offensive helped give Rep. Paul Ryan the space he needed to wave in a vast new group of Muslim migrants.

Rubio further lent aid and comfort to Paul Ryan by joining a large group of Senators in voting down a proposal offered by Sen. Rand Paul to curb Muslim migration. Sen. Paul’s  amendment would have suspended visa issuances to more than 30 Muslim countries with active Jihadist populations.

{snip}

(4) Enabling His Corporate Backers to Replace Americans With Foreign Workers

In 2015, Florida Disney laid off scores of Marco Rubio’s constituents and replaced them with low-wage foreign workers brought in on H-1B visas. However, before terminating their American employees, Disney forced Rubio’s constituents to train their lesser-skilled foreign replacements.

If Rubio had spent his political capital in 2013 trying to reform the H-1B program, instead of massively expanding it, he could have saved these careers of these Disney workers, instead of enabling their termination by leading the charge for more foreign workers. {snip}

{snip}

Shortly before the Disney workers got the axe, Rubio introduced legislation in January of 2015 to massively expand the H-1B program. Rubio’s 2015 Immigration Innovation Act would have tripled the number of H-1B visas. Interestingly, the bill was endorsed by Disney’s CEO Bob Iger via his immigration lobbying group, the Partnership for a New American Economy. According to Open Secrets, the Walt Disney Corporation is one of Rubio’s biggest financial backers, having donated more than $2 million.

Unfortunately, Rubio’s success in protecting his corporate backers’ ability to increase their bottom line has gone virtually unreported in the corporate media. This perhaps explains why so few are able to list his Senatorial achievements.

{snip}

(5) Blocking Food Stamp Reform

In 2011, Marco Rubio voted against a Republican proposal which the Congressional Budget Office projected would save the U.S. government $10 billion by reining in the abuse of the food stamp program. The measure was backed by almost all Republicans and opposed by virtually all Democrats. The measure, as Sen. Jeff Sessions explained when he proposed it, would have eliminated what is known as the “categorical eligibility” for food stamps, which makes people “automatically eligible” to receive government benefits even if that household has “substantial assets.” Rubio was one of only seven Republicans to oppose the measure, but his no vote helped stall momentum for food stamp reform– which remains elusive.

{snip}