Two of the most prominent politicians in Florida -- U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. -- exchanged fire over the continuing federal shutdown and other issues on Thursday.
In her capacity as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Wasserman Schultz announced on Thursday a new campaign targeting Hispanic voters in Florida as well as Arizona, Texas and Nevada, attacking Republicans on the shutdown. The DNC will take to social media and will run robocalls attacking Republicans.
Earlier this week, the DNC hammered Republicans in states that hold early presidential primaries and caucuses including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Wasserman Schultz called out Rubio and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, both of whom are possible candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
Earlier this week we launched this campaign to hold Republicans accountable for their reckless actions and thats exactly what were doing, Wasserman Schultz said Thursday. Well continue to hold Republicans like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz accountable for shutting down the government and risking the full faith and credit of the United States.
Wasserman Schultz also took aim at U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
They could end this self-inflicted shutdown today if Speaker Boehner would allow a vote on a clean spending bill with no partisan strings attached, Wasserman Schultz said. The GOPs shutdown is hurting Latino communities nationwide and the DNC is going to make sure voters in every community know that Republicans are siding with the tea party over working families.
The calls in Florida specifically target Rubio by name. Im calling from the DNC with a GOP Shutdown Alert, the voice on the calls says. Senator Marco Rubio was an architect of the GOPs government shutdown and it's hurting the Latino community in Florida. Rubios shutdown is costing the economy as much as $10 billion a week and Republicans are ready to not pay our nations bills.
The calls urge Floridians to contact the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) to demand that the GOP stop holding the economy hostage.
Rubio fired back on Thursday, emailing supporters of his Reclaim America PAC to fight back against the Democrats.
The DNC has launched a full-on multimedia assault against those of us fighting the liberal status quo in Washington, Rubio insisted. Democrats have the audacity to blame us for the government slowdown after they rejected numerous Republican proposals to keep the government open.
Across our country, Americans are as disgusted as I am by the latest Washington spectacle of failed leadership, Rubio added. The government slowdown, the debt limit, the division in Washington is a horrible thing, but whats worse is whats happening to the American dream. While Washington debates how to keep the government open, too few are talking about how to keep the American dream alive.
Rubio took to the floor of the U.S. Senate on Thursday to speak on the American dream and the looming battle over raising the debt ceiling. Earlier in the month, Rubio invoked the American dream in a Senate speech on the shutdown.
Rubio added that Democrats are more concerned with politics than policy and slammed the liberal DNC establishment.
This month, Obamacare has begun to take root in Americans lives and marks among the most invasive intrusions into our workplaces, health plans and religious freedoms that we have ever seen, Rubio wrote. But while this is taking place, the Democrats are playing politics and attacking me and my colleagues while we try and protect the dream that makes America special. Right now, the DNC is spending thousands of dollars trying to overwhelm Senate offices with paid calls and pushing out online ads attacking me and my colleagues all across the country.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinDerbySSN.
