U.S.
Senator Marco Rubio - update
April 5, 2013
Jacksonville, FL (Posted April 5, 2014 01:45 pm)
Rubio Introduces Legislation To Hold Administration Accountable, Protect Taxpayers From Obamacare Bailout
Marco introduced The ObamaCare Taxpayer Bailout
Protection Act , legislation to hold the Administration
accountable by ensuring ObamaCare’s risk-corridor
provision remains budget neutral, which would prevent
taxpayer dollars from being used to bailout insurance
companies.
This is Rubio’s latest attempt to protect taxpayers from
an ObamaCare bailout after introducing The ObamaCare
Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act in November.
Under ObamaCare’s section 1342, risk corridors were
established for the law’s first three years as a safety
net for insurers who experience financial losses,
needlessly exposing taxpayers to funding a bailout of
insurance companies. Earlier this month , the Obama
administration announced a new rule “to operate the risk
corridors program in a budget neutral manner.” Rubio’s
bill holds the Administration accountable by requiring
that ObamaCare’s risk corridors ensure budget
neutrality.
Rubio Fights To Reform Veterans Affairs With Boehner, Miller, Veterans Groups
On Thursday, Marco joined House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Representative Jeff Miller (R-FL) and representatives of several veterans’ service organizations at a press event to call on Congress to pass legislation sponsored by Rubio in the Senate and Miller in the House that would bring greater accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for meeting the needs of America’s veterans, including its disability claims backlog.
Rubio, Cardin Introduce Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act Of 2014
Marco and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), both members of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the
Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act of 2014,
legislation establishing a Syria-specific standard of
reporting and accountability for crimes against
humanity.
The bill would require the U.S. State Department to
report to relevant congressional committees on war
crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria.
This would include an account of war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed by both the regime of
President Bashar al-Assad and violent extremist groups
and other combatants involved in the conflict. The
report also requires a description of U.S. government
efforts to ensure accountability for human rights
violations in Syria.
On Tuesday, The Syrian Humanitarian Resolution of 2014 ,
introduced by Marco last month, was unanimously approved
by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rubio, Thune Demand Answers From Administration On Internet Transition
Marco and Senator John Thune (R-SD), along with 33 of
their Senate Republican colleagues, sent a letter to
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling, head
of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA), seeking clarification regarding
the recent announcement that NTIA intends to relinquish
responsibility of the Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority (IANA) functions to the global
multistakeholder community.
The letter expresses strong support for “the existing
bottom-up, multistakeholder approach to the Internet
governance,” and cautions: “We must not allow the IANA
functions to fall under the control of repressive
governments, America’s enemies, or unaccountable
bureaucrats.”
The letter goes on to say: “The global community of
Internet stakeholders should act deliberately and
transparently as it formulates a possible proposal to
transition the IANA functions to a nongovernmental
entity. The multistakeholder model of Internet
governance and the IANA functions are far too important
for this process to be rushed or to be done behind
closed doors.”
Among other things, the letter asks the administration
to “explain why it is in our national interest to
transition the IANA functions,” and how NTIA will ensure
“the IANA functions do not end up being controlled,
directly or indirectly, by a government or
inter-governmental entity.”
In 2012, Congress unanimously passed a resolution
sponsored by Senator Rubio expressing support for the
bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model that currently
governs the Internet and for an Internet free from
government control.
Constituent Casework Corner
A South Florida nonprofit organization created to
serve veterans applied for their 501(c)(3) status with
the Internal Revenue Service last summer and received a
notice that it would take 90 days to process.
After six months of inactivity, the group contacted
Senator Rubio for assistance. A member of the staff
contacted the agency to follow up on the status of the
application. The agency confirmed that there is a 12
month delay to review this type of application. However,
due to the miscommunication and notice indicating only a
90 day review period, they agreed to expeditiously
review the application. The application was subsequently
approved.
