Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio is a Cuban-American from Miami. He graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and earned his J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami Law School. Rubio began his political career as the West Miami City Commissioner in 1998. He was elected in Florida House of Representatives the following year and in 2009, he won his campaign for the U.S. Senate. He is the junior United States Senator from Florida and a previous Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Rubio is best known for his “100 Innovative Idea’s for Florida’s Future” proposal on which he consulted Floridian Citizens on ways to improve and reform the state government. Over half of the ideas generated through the proposal eventually became laws. Rubio is married to his wife Jeanette, with whom he has four children.

Campaign Website

Tax Reform

• A Pro-Growth, Pro-Family Tax plan
  • Simplify the tax code to reduce the number of brackets from seven to three (MRWTR)
  • Unorthodoxically wants to keep the tax rate ~35% for the top household income earners (Politico)
  • Rubio plans to get rid of the tax burdens on dual earning married couples
  • Wants to repeal ObamaCare and all associated $1 trillion in taxes
  • Wants to create a partially refundable Child Tax credit of up to $2500 per child that phases out above an individual income of 150k and a joint income of 300k
  • Eliminates all itemized deductions and tax “extenders”
  • Charitable contribution deduction and mortgage interest deduction available for all
  • Implements a single $2500 universal tax incentive for post secondary education or job skill training under the 400-500% threshold of the federal party line (MRWTR)

• Businesses and Corporations
  • Marco Wants to cut taxes for small business to 25% down from the current tax rate of 35%
  • Wants to implement a tax credit to any business offering between four and twelve weeks of paid family leave
  • Rubio’s plan aims to allow for immediate expensing of capital expenditures
  • Wants to reduce the double taxation of corporations doing business overseas
  • Aims to eliminate the federal estate tax that penalizes family owned farms and businesses
  • Interest income would not be taxable (MRWTR)
  • Provides a transition period, which requires a one-time booking of investment at current law capital gains and dividend rates, minus the 3.8% investment tax hike from ObamaCare

Jobs & Business Policy

• Small Businesses
  • Marco Wants to cut the taxes of small business to 25%
  • He wants to enable small businesses to immediately expense new investments
  • Wants to permanently repeal the estate tax
  • Rubio wants to completely rescind Obama care because of the associated tax hikes
  • He wants to reform current methods and induce the inclusion of small businesses in the regulatory process
  • Incentivize expansion of the American Energy Industry
  • Wants to put a ceiling on the negative economic impact of US regulations
  • Fight and seek repeal for the Carbon-Tax on the American Energy Industry(MRWSB)
• Job Creation
  • Wants to implement a skill and merit based system of immigration
  • “Know before you go act” - An act that would require Universities to offer future earning projections for a student’s prospective degree
  • Implement student investment plans which would create a relationship where a student’s degree would be financed by an investor who then receives a percentage of their future earning
• American Workforce
  • Wants to give workers the option to receive either monetary compensation or paid leave for overtime work (MRWAW) https://marcorubio.com/news/american-workers-policy-proposals/

Health Policy

• Repealing and Replacing ObamaCare
  • Expand access to affordable, quality health coverage by providing every American with an advanceable, refundable tax credit that can be used to purchase insurance.
  • Promote innovation in the Medicaid program by giving states a per-capita block grant, which preserves funding for Medicaid’s unique populations
  • Wants to keep traditional medicare and medicaid advantages for Seniors
  • Give Seniors a choice between a variety of private plans(MRWHC)
  • Move Medicaid to a per capita block grant system
  • Reform insurance regulations to lower costs and develop state-based high risk pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions (Politico) http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/marco-rubio-plan-to-fix-health-care-121453

Drug Policy

• • Timid about reducing sentences for drug crimes as opposed to his fellow republicans who call for immediate revision(WashingtonPost) (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/04/28/how-rubios-stance-on-drug-laws-stands-out-in-gop-presidential-field/)
  • Only medical marijuana and will not get behind it for recreational use
  • The federal should supersede state legalization of marijuana

(On the Issues) http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Marco_Rubio_Drugs.htm

Middle East

• • Wants to undo the deal with Iran the first day in office
  • Wants to use military force as a credible threat against Iran if it decides to proceed with its nuclear program
• Military Strategy
  • Build a multinational coalition willing to send troops and support
  • Increase the number of American troops on the grounds to partner with allies and fight ISIS
  • Increase the number of Airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
  • Align with Sunni and Kurdish forces
  • Target ISIS’ financial reserves
• Political Strategy
  • Broadcast American victories
  • Work with Baghdad to increase Sunni inclusion
  • Advocate and protect religious minorities in the region
  • Publicize and Expose ISIS’ war crimes
  • Halt new admissions of refugees
  • Enhance the security screening of the visa program (MRWISIS)

Immigration

• Modernizing the Immigration System
  • Change from a family based immigration system to one on merit and skill
  • keep the test on American History in addition to the skill based system
  • Invest in an entry and exit tracking system for Visas
  • Reassigning visas from family based immigrants to skill based immigration populations
  • All immigrants must learn English (MRWI)