Focus of Marco Rubio's Latest Video: Cuts in Federal Staff

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the overwhelming favorite to be the Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate race, unveiled the last in a series of videos promoting ideas on how to reduce the size and cost of the federal government.Rubio calls for downsizing thefederal bureaucracy, calling for the White House and Congress to cut their staffs by 10 percent.

I think we should cut by 10 percent the budget of both the White House and the Congress, said Rubio. Their budgets have grown over the last few years, while your budget, my personal budget and the budgets of millions of Americans and their businesses have shrunk in an economic downturn.That hasnt been the case in Washington, D.C., where government has basically held itself harmless from this downturn in our economy.

But heres a bigger idea, one that will really matter: We need to shrink the size of the federal work force, added Rubio. And heres how you do it: For every two civilian federal employees that retire or leave, youhire only one person to replace them. That allows you, over time through attrition, to lower the federal work force without having to lay people off or fire people.