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News Wednesday, Jun 22 2016

Day One For Candidate Rubio Brings Familiar Questions About Absenteeism

Jun 22, 2016

On his first day running for reelection, Marco Rubio once again had to answer questions about missing so many votes in the Senate. His excuse that he was missing votes merely to run for president last year simply doesn’t add up — long before he was on the campaign trail the senator was skipping out on his day job.

The Washington Post reported last October that “More than a quarter of Marco Rubio’s missed votes came before he was a candidate”:

But a lot of those missed votes can’t be easily tied to his presidential campaign schedule, and many came before he was even a candidate.

Nearly one-third of the votes Rubio has missed in 2015 came before he launched his campaign. Between Jan. 1 and April 12, the day before he announced, the Senate held 135 votes. Rubio missed 25 of them, meaning that even before his campaign began, he missed more votes than Paul or Sanders have all year.

After his April 13 announcement, the Senate had 140 votes, of which Rubio missed 34.

[Rubio] skipped 10 percent of them in 2014 — making him one of the most absent senators, with the 88th-best attendance record, according to statistics kept by GovTrack.us. He began missing committee work, even on the subject he most identified with. In 2014, Rubio missed 34 of 68 committee hearings and meetings in the Foreign Relations committee, according to his office’s tally.

Rubio can try to use the same excuse with his constituents in Florida as he did with the national GOP electorate earlier this year, but we all saw how that turned out…

Watch Rubio robotically fall back on his lame defense:

Background:

Rubio’s Habit Of Missed Votes Started before He Was Running For President

29 Percent Of Rubio’s 2015 Missed Votes Came Before He Was A Presidential Candidate

Rubio Missed 25 Of 135 Votes Before He Announced He Was Running For President.  According to the Washington Post, “Nearly one-third of the votes Rubio has missed in 2015 came before he launched his campaign. Between Jan. 1 and April 12, the day before he announced, the Senate held 135 votes. Rubio missed 25 of them, meaning that even before his campaign began, he missed more votes than Paul or Sanders have all year.” [Washington Post, 10/8/15]

Rubio Missed 34 Of 140 Votes After He Announced He Was Running For President.  According to the Washington Post, “After his April 13 announcement, the Senate had 140 votes, of which Rubio missed 34.” [Washington Post, 10/8/15]

2011 – December, 9 2015: Rubio Missed 13.0 Percent Of Votes Since Joining The Senate

2011 – December 9, 2015: Rubio Missed 13.0 Percent Of Roll Call Votes Since Joining The Senate. According to analysis of Sen. Rubio’s voting record, he has missed 192 of 1477 of the Senate’s roll call votes since he joined the Senate. This equates to him 13.0 percent of all possible roll call votes. [American Bridge Analysis Of Senate.gov, Accessed 12/9/15]

  • GovTrack: Rubio’s Voting Record Is “Much Worse” Than The Life-Time Median Voting Record Of Currently Serving Senators. According to GovTrack.us, “From Jan 2011 to Dec 2015, Rubio missed 192 of 1,477 roll call votes, which is 13.0%. This is much worse than the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.” [GovTrack.us, Accessed12/14/15]

2014: Rubio Skipped 10 Percent Of Votes In 2014. According to Washington Post, “But it’s also been clear that Rubio’s ambitions were aimed elsewhere. He began missing votes. He skipped 10 percent of them in 2014 — making him one of the most absent senators, with the 88th-best attendance record, according to statistics kept by GovTrack.us. He began missing committee work, even on the subject he most identified with. In 2014, Rubio missed 34 of 68 committee hearings and meetings in the Foreign Relations committee, according to his office’s tally.” [Washington Post, 10/25/15]

2011 Session: Rubio Missed 21 Of 235 Votes In His First Session

Rubio Missed 21 Of 235 Votes In His First Session Of Congress. [Florida Times-Union, 12/29/11]

  • Median Vote Missed Total Of That Session Was 5.5 For All Senators. According to analysis of Senate roll call votes in 2011, the median was 5.5 missed votes per Senator.  [American Bridge Analysis Of Senate.gov, Accessed 10/28/15]

2011 – 2015: Rubio Had “One Of The Worst” Attendance Records In The Senate
Rubio Had “One Of The Worst” Attendance Records In The Senate. According to a blog by Alex Leary in the Tampa Bay Times, “Rubio’s attendance record has drawn notice before. He had one of the worst in the Senate as of last year and his office attributed it to family matters. He has an elderly mother and four children.” [Tampa Bay Times, 1/26/15]

Rubio Had A Absentee Rate of 8,2 Percent Even Before Seeking The White House. According to Politico, “One analysis found that Rubio had the poorest attendance rate among senators seeking the White House. And another report published in February found that in his first four years in office, Rubio missed 99 out of 1,198 votes, amounting to an absentee rate of 8.2 percent, among the highest in the Senate. Rubio’s office said the missed votes were largely due to family commitments.” [Politico, 7/27/15]


Published: Jun 22, 2016

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