Marco Rubio urges more federal relief spending to guard against economic ‘structural damage’

Marco Rubio wants more federal relief.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday a new federal aid package is inevitable, and necessary to save the economy.

Rubio, on Mornings with Maria on Fox Business Network, contended that while he is concerned about debt, the price of inaction could be more severe.

“If we don’t do something, the economy is going to suffer, lasting structural damage that is going to make it very hard for this country to have the growth it is going to need to get the debt under control going,” Rubio said.

“It’s going to last a decade so we need to address it,” the second-term South Florida Republican added.

“Everyone knows what a big deal this is. Look, it’ll be messy. They’ll be a lot of kicking and screaming, a lot of name calling, and a lot of noise. That’s how we make sausage in our republic,” Rubio said.

Indeed, the sausage making here is more like a taffy pull, with Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and President Donald Trump all having different visions.

“Ultimately, I do believe that at the end of the day we’ll have some package that everyone will like a lot of things in it, and everyone will have a couple things they don’t like.  But that’s the only way you can pass a law around here. We have to pass something the President will sign, Democrats in the House will support, and Democrats and Republicans in the Senate will vote for. That’s not an easy thing to do, but I believe we can get it done.”

The Senator expects “a more targeted second round” for the Paycheck Protection Program.

“I think we’re open to other things that help people get back to work. Embedded in that debate of course is what do you do for individual Americans,” Rubio said.

“Do you increase the unemployment or do you continue this extended unemployment by another number of months? We are hearing from many employers that it is making it harder to rehire people. We can’t ignore that when they raise that, so that has to be taken into account. The President wants a payroll tax cut. Of course that depends on people being back to work.

“We got to get kids back in school and that means we are going to have to invest in the things in this country that allow us to open schools safely. The price for not getting kids in school is extremely high,” Rubio said.