Freshmen Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla., below) and Mike Lee (R-Utah, above) addressed students at the Young America’s Foundation’s national student conference this week about Tuesday’s debt ceiling vote. (Kelly F. Zimmerman/MNS)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (Kelly F. Zimmerman/MNS)
WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida sees a light at the end of the tunnel on how much government spends.
“I think that if anything good has come from the debt limit debate [it] has elevated this discussion about the balanced budget amendment,” Rubio said Tuesday night to a group of young conservatives, just hours after the Senate passed a bill to raise the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling.
The new agreement—winning 74-26 Senate approval before making its way to President Barack Obama for his signature—barely skimmed by the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department to raise the amount the nation can borrow.
The deal includes spending cuts over the next 10 years and will require an up-or-down vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
Rubio told students attending the Young America Foundation’s national student conference he doesn’t know how close Congress is to passing a balanced budget amendment, but said it should be a priority during the next couple of months — and in the 2012 election.
“If we keep doing what we’re doing now, if nothing changes, we will have a debt crisis that will make the last one you saw look like child’s play,” Rubio said, calling the current revenue to borrowing ratio “unsustainable.”
Rubio joined 25 other senators in rejecting the bill, including Sen. Mike Lee, of Utah, who followed suit in addressing young conservatives at the conference Wednesday morning about the country’s economic situation.
Lee also spoke to students about his strong support of a balanced budget amendment, and said they should be motivated to push for one.
“Sometimes it’s necessary to amend the Constitution in order to protect it,” he said.
However, putting the right language in place is necessary to ensure an effective measure, Lee said.
Ryan Featherman, a 22-year-old student from Middletown, N.J., said he is skeptical about the idea of a balanced budget amendment, partly because he is unsure of the possible outcome and does not know enough about it.
Featherman said he doesn’t think it’s wrong to change to Constitution, but added, “You have got to really make sure that if you’re going to put an amendment into the Constitution, that it is very specific and that it is long term,” Featherman said.