Marco Rubio should resign from the U.S. Senate and stop “ripping off” the people of Florida, according to the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel newspaper editorial board.
“By choosing to stay in the Senate and get the publicity, perks and pay that go with the position — without doing the work — you are taking advantage of us,” the paper wrote in an editorial published Tuesday. “Your job is to represent Floridians in the Senate. Either do your job, Sen. Rubio, or resign it.”
The Sun Sentinel said Rubio is being paid $174,000 with taxpayer money to do a job he is not doing — while he is criticizing others for doing the same thing.
“Two weeks ago, you took to the Senate floor to excoriate federal workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs for failing to do their jobs. You said, ‘there is really no other job in the country where if you don’t do your job, you don’t get fired,'” the paper added. “With the exception of your job, right?”
The Sun Sentinel also pointed to fellow Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who both also running for president and reportedly missed just a fraction of the votes Rubio did. Rubio missed roughly one third of Senate votes this year.
CNN has reached out to Rubio’s campaign for comment on the editorial.
Rubio told CNN Sunday that he’s missed past votes because he’s campaigning, but the editorial board said that’s an insufficient excuse.
“Sorry, senator, but Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job. We’ve got serious problems with clogged highways, eroding beaches, flat Social Security checks and people who want to shut down the government,” the paper wrote. “If you hate your job, senator, follow the honorable lead of House Speaker John Boehner and resign it.”