CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – After five years in the Senate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is dismissing Congress’ ability to change much about America.
“We’re not going to fix America with senators and congressmen,” Rubio charged during a Tuesday town hall-style meeting with voters in Cedar Rapids. Only presidents, he said, can set the nation’s policy agenda.
Rubio, who is running for president, was responding to a question about missing Senate votes in recent years. Rubio said his voting record “is close to 90 percent” during this, his first and only term in the Senate. He could have run for Senate re-election and the White House at the same time, but decided to forgo a second term and focus on his White House campaign.
“I have missed votes this year,” Rubio conceded at the Cedar Rapids event. “You know why? Because while as a senator I can help shape the agenda, only a president can set the agenda. We’re not going to fix America with senators and congressmen.”
Members of the House and Senate, especially those on the campaign trail, routinely distance themselves from the unpopular Congress. Doing so is an especially potent applause line this presidential campaign year, in which outsiders such as billionaire developer Donald Trump, who has never held public office, have built up solid support among Republican voters. Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, delights in asserting that his unpopularity among members in both parties makes him an establishment outsider in Washington.