Once Marco Rubio slowly self-destructed on the presidential campaign trail, his constituents must have assumed their junior senator would return to doing his job, right?
Wrong.
After joining the growing number of Republicans who say they’ll meet with President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, Rubio has reversed course and now says he will not even meet with the nominee.
Rubio refuses to do a lot of things — attend Foreign Relations Committee hearings, vote in the Senate, build a ground game, upgrade his robot’s talking points from the 1950s, or revoke his support of Donald Trump, for example.
Now, despite his home state editorial boards repeatedly calling on him to do his job, Rubio refuses to even meet with the President’s Supreme Court nominee, much less agree to hold hearings and vote.
Background:
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]
December 2015: Rubio Missed An Entire Day Of Senate Votes Nearly 60 Percent Of The Time Since He Began His Presidential Campaign. Since Rubio began his presidential campaign on April 13, 2015, the Senate has had roll call votes on 81 days through December 9, 2015. According to an analysis of Sen. Rubio’s voting record, he has missed all roll call votes on 48 of those 81 days, or 59.3 percent. [American Bridge Analysis Of Senate.gov, Accessed 12/9/15; Washington Post, 4/13/15]
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 – 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 High Absentee Rate 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]
Despite His Poor Record, Rubio Insisted That He Felt “Very Comfortable” With His Record
2015 Rubio: “I Feel Very Comfortable With My Record.” According to Politico, “The question, voters will ask, is what kind of ‘judgment’ the 2016 candidates showed each time a crisis from abroad has flared up, he said. ‘I feel very comfortable about my record,’ Rubio told POLITICO in an interview Thursday.” [Politico, 2/20/15]
Committee Attendance
Commerce, Science And Transpiration Committee
Proxy Votes
Rubio Voted By Proxy In One-Third, 33.33%, Of Commerce, Science, And Transportation Committee Votes. [American Bridge Analysis Of Marco Rubio Committee Votes, 11/30/15]
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Overall Attendance
Rubio Attended Just 52 Of 106 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings In His First Three Years In Office. According to Politico, “Yet from 2011 to 2014, Rubio attended just 52 of 106 hearings on the Foreign Relations full committee and subcommittee on which he serves, according to a review of transcripts. Similarly, Cruz took heat earlier this year for skipping a number of hearings before the Armed Services Committee, including one this month in which senior military leaders testified on the U.S. strategy to combat ISIL.” [Politico, 7/27/15]
2014: Rubio Missed 34 Of 68 Committee Hearings And Meetings In The Foreign Relations Committee. According to Washington Post, “But it’s also been clear that Rubio’s ambitions were aimed elsewhere. […] 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]
Senate Select Intelligence Committee
[Transcript] Rubio: “We Do All The Intelligence Briefings.” While appearing on State Of The Union, Marco Rubio said, “RUBIO: We do all the intelligence briefings. I was just there this Tuesday. I got fully briefed and caught up on everything that’s happening in the world.” [State Of The Union, 10/26/15]
Overall Attendance
Rubio’s Attendance Was Confirmed At 58% Of All Senate Select Intelligence Committee Hearings During His Term In The Senate. Through May 2015, Rubio’s attendance was confirmed at 11 of the 19 hearings that had been held by the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, or 58%. [Senate Select Intelligence Committee]
Rubio Attended 65% Of All Select Intelligence Committee Hearings For Which His Attendance Status Was Known During His Term In The Senate. Through May 2015, Rubio’s attendance status was known at 17 of the 19 hearings that had been held by the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. Of those 17 hearings, Rubio attended 11, or 65%. [Senate Select Intelligence Committee]
Senate Small Business Committee
Overall Attendance
Rubio Attended 14% Of All Small Business Committee Hearings For Which His Attendance Status Was Known During His Term In The Senate. Through May 2015, Rubio’s attendance status was known at 42 of the 59 hearings that had been held by the Senate Small Business Committee. Of those 42 hearings, Rubio attended 6, or 14%. [Senate Small Business Committee]
Rubio’s Attendance Was Confirmed At 10% Of All Senate Small Business Committee Hearings During His Term In The Senate. Through May 2015, Rubio’s attendance was confirmed at 6 of the 59 hearings that had been held by the Senate Small Business Committee, or 10%. [Senate Small Business Committee]
Published: Apr 1, 2016