Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
Rubio may still want to be president one day. He’s content to wait out Trump
Seeking a third term in the Senate, Rubio has spent months trying to define right-wing populist messaging and policy even as Trump holds sway over GOP voters.
By Allan Smith
June 7, 2021
NBC News
After reluctantly running for and winning a second term, [Rubio] took alead role in expanding the child tax credit — also a priority of Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump — as part of the 2017 tax overhaul, the culmination of a longtime effort. Last year, Rubio co-authored the Paycheck Protection Program and shepherded the Covid-19 relief bill for small businesses into law, a landmark achievement.
Simultaneously, Rubio worked closely with Trump on foreign policy, so much so that he was described as “a virtual secretary of state for Latin America.” More recently, he has been among several leading contributors to bipartisan legislation about China making its way through Congress. And, as Florida’s senior senator, Rubio centered issues close to home. In March, the New York Times editorial board called Rubio the Senate’s “most vigorous champion” for Everglades National Park.
His efforts have led to other accolades. The University of Virginia/Vanderbilt University Center for Effective Lawmaking rated Rubio as the most effective Republican senator in the last Congress.
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Allies say Rubio’s approach was affirmed by Florida’s decisively red shift. Trump won the state handily last year, and in Rubio’s home county, Miami-Dade, Republicans gained about 200,000 votes compared to 2016, while Democrats lost more than 5,000.
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