Marco Rubio is ditching Nevada — what his campaign deemed his “firewall” — for more campaigning in Minnesota and Michigan later today. Where will Rubio NOT be?
In Washington DC, where Rubio is skipping a Foreign Relations hearing with Secretary of State John Kerry, a classified Intelligence Committee hearing, and a Commerce Committee hearing held by the Subcommittee that Rubio chairs! That’s right: Rubio’s own chairman seat will be occupied by someone else because he can’t show up for work.
Rubio already had abysmal attendance records since 2011 — He missed 60 percent of Foreign Relations hearings and 80 percent of Commerce hearings, and we won’t know his Intelligence hearing record until he releases his schedule of 245 classified hearings.
Which leaves voters with a big red flag — If Rubio skips a majority of his hearings, what does that mean for the foreign policy experience he pegs to those committees? Even at last week’s CNN town hall, he made the argument that:
“I know I haven’t lived as long as some of the people running for president, but no one running for president, especially on the Republican side, has more experience on national security or foreign policy than I do. As both a member of the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee over the last five years, I have been dealing with every single major issue that this country confronts.“
One thing is for sure: after missing three committees on one day, missing another vote last night (and missing 88 percent of votes this year), Rubio won’t be winning any attendance awards anytime soon.
Committee hearings Rubio is missing today:
Commerce: Magnuson-Stevens Act at 40: Successes, Challenges and the Path Forward
February 23, 2016 – 2:30pm
February 23, 2016 – 2:30pm
Foreign Relations: Review of the FY 2017 State Department Budget Request
February 23, 2016 – 10:00am
Published: Feb 23, 2016