By Bonnie Pike

Marco Rubio would like the voters to re-elect him to the U.S. Senate. Rubio has worked diligently to promote his Covid-19 Payment Protection Program, which helped local businesses throughout the pandemic. He helped pass the Burn Pit Bill to help thousands of veterans exposed to toxic materials from burn pits if stationed in Iraq, Southeast Asia, Afghanistan, and the Middle east obtain medical VA benefits. His introduction of the SAFE Hospitals Act to modernize Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) provided better healthcare for low-income families.

Rubio wants a strong safe Florida by not defunding the police. He added to the Democrats' Climate Change Bill : more funding for police and the detention of violent criminals. He stated : “Violent criminals should be in jail, not on our streets. Too many of our communities are victims of rich laptop liberals that shout woke slogans but never have to deal with the consequences of their actions." Rubio's opponent Demings claims to be tough on crime. Yet the Florida Fraternal Order of Police president Steve Zona said "Demings shouldn't be going around saying she is the police when she hasn't been for over a decade and has failed to represent the needs of law enforcement in Washington."

On energy independence, Rubio is for renewable energy but feels we should produce more oil and natural gas at home. He co-authored the Small Scale LNG Access Act which expedited the approval for the exportation of natural gas that did not exceed 51.75 billion cubic feet per year. It will increase trade with Caribbean nations and Latin America (excluding Cuba and Venezuela). He is against more power in the EPA to override Congress on environmental issues concerning energy. He wants a clean environment but these regulations must be authorized through Congress and not totally by the EPA.

Rubio advocates the second amendment and helped introduce the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. This will allow citizens with concealed carry privileges in their state to exercise the same rights in other states (abiding by their laws).

Rubio cares about all aspects of Floridians' lives and wants to serve another six years as your senator. Your vote on November 8th will keep him in Washington to fight for you.