Rubio and Scott vote against reducing inflation, lowering drug prices and tackling climate change

This past week, Senate Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in what turned out to be a strict party vote — 50 Democrats voted in favor and 50 Republicans voted against. It passed when Vice President Kamala Harris, serving as president of the Senate, voted in favor helping it to pass 51-50. 

It was a victory for the American people. If you delve not so deeply into the bill and what it offers, many of those Republicans who voted against it will soon be singing its praises to their voters at home when all is said and done. The only reason for their vote against is their fear it will look like a Democratic Party victory right before a crucial midterm election in November. More of the same, in other words, to hell with those they are elected to serve.  

National Public Radio described it as “a spending bill which would attempt to tackle climate change, the high cost of prescription drugs and lower the deficit by roughly $300 billion.”

Here in Florida, both our senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, voted against the bill. Think about them this fall, in the case of Rubio, when he tells you that we must reduce the deficit and that Obamacare only helped increase the price of drugs. As for climate change, well, Marco is one of those politicians who believes in climate change when it’s convenient, and denies it when he’s in front of that crowd. If there was ever a ‘finger in the wind’ politician, his name is Marco Rubio. Remember the immigration bill he co-authored with Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham? He wrote it, threw it out there and later said he would not vote for it. The bill never made it to the floor…

Here are the three main items included in the Inflation bill:

1. In an effort to tackle climate change (and Florida is ground zero in this country), more than $300 billion would be invested in energy and climate reform, the largest federal clean energy investment in U.S. history. The bill takes on transportation and electricity generation, and includes $60 billion for growing renewable energy infrastructure in manufacturing like solar panels and wind turbines. It also includes several tax credits for individuals on things like electric vehicles and making homes more energy efficient.

2. It lowers the cost of prescription drugs. One of its measures allows the federal health secretary to negotiate the prices of certain expensive drugs each year for Medicare. The bill puts a cap of $2,000 on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for people on Medicare, effective in 2025. In the end, it helps millions of Americans avoid spikes in their health care costs.

3. The legislation creates a 15% minimum tax for corporations making $1 billion or more in income, bringing in more than $300 billion in revenue. 

My question to both senators from Florida: What’s not to like? And why did you vote against it? The answer, I suspect, can be found if one looks deeply into who lines THEIR pockets…

Some might accuse me of writing against both Rubio and Scott because I don’t like them, and their politics. My answer would be an unequivocal “that’s right!” Not only do I not like them, I detest them. But it’s based on the fact that neither is a good or honest politician. 

Here’s another recent situation that proves my point. After all that we’ve seen with gun violence, how it is affecting how we live, our fear of sending our children to school, or just walking down the street… both Rubio and Scott recently voted NO against a bipartisan gun-control bill in the Senate. The key word in that last sentence is bipartisan. In other words, it was a bill agreed upon by both Democrats and Republicans. Rubio and Scott both claimed it went too far in restricting gun rights. Ultimately, the bill passed by a tally of 65-33, with 15 GOP senators, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, joining 48 Democratic and two independent members in support.

Rubio, again sticking his index finger to the wind, later said, “I promised the people of Florida I would do everything I could to keep our schools and communities safe while protecting their constitutional rights. This bill fails that test.” He forgot to mention the millions he has received from the National Rifle Association (NRA) who gives him an A+ rating for his support OF guns gone wild in this country. The fact is that leadership of the NRA (and not necessarily all its members) feel the sale of guns and the money it produces trumps (no pun intended) the lives lost because of those guns. Whatever the fact, as of 2018, Rubio had already collected $3.3 million from the gun industry. 

As for Rick Scott, the guy’s a crook. Before jumping into politics, as CEO of Columbia/HCA in the late 1990s, his hospital company was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud. He resigned less than four months after the inquiry became public, but not before leaving with $300 million in his pocket. I did not make this up, research it and find out for yourselves.

So Rick Scott stays on for a few more years. But in November we have a chance to start ridding Florida of one of its very bad apples. His name is Marco Rubio. He DOES NOT deserve our vote. Unless, of course, you’re a political masochist and enjoy voting in favor of hurting yourself.