Sen. Rubio on Trump's call for $1 trillion investment in infrastructure
In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump called for a $1 trillion investment in the United States’ “crumbling infrastructure.”
“To launch our national rebuilding, I will be asking the Congress to approve legislation that produces a $1 trillion investment in the infrastructure of the United States – financed through both public and private capital – creating millions of new jobs,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday night.
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Asked whether there are enough votes in Congress for an infrastructure spending program, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said “it depends.” He said it would be “very difficult” if all of the $1 trillion were to be funded by taxpayer money.
“However, as he discussed last night – and I think a lot of people missed this point – he talked about a public-private partnership, and if they’re talking about leveraging private funds as a significant portion of that trillion dollars over a 10- or five-year period, I think that is very doable within the context of everything else,” Rubio said.
Mr. Trump also called on Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Rubio said he agrees because people on Obamacare “are truly uninsured.”
“Even though they have Obamacare coverage… their deductibles are so high that, in essence, they’d have to spend money they don’t have before they can even begin to use the plan,” Rubio said. “Now that doesn’t mean you throw those people out in the street, it doesn’t mean we go back to the system we had before 2010. I don’t want to go back to that either. I want to replace it with a system that for the vast majority of Americans means they’re going to be able to access private health insurance that’s more affordable and covers the things they want in a vibrant, private marketplace.”
A CBS News poll released Wednesday shows 76 percent of people who watched Mr. Trump’s address to Congress approved of his speech, with 61 percent describing it as “very positive.” Rubio also said he thought Mr. Trump “did a very good job last night, and that was a promising sign.”
“I do believe that for the good of the country, we need to give him a chance to be successful. And if we disagree with him, we’ll take on those issues. I thought last night was a very presidential speech. I thought last night was the best speech I’ve seen him give, and I’ve been watching him now pretty closely for two years,” Rubio said.
