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(CBS News)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Sunday accused Democrats of purposefully ignoring the debt limit until the last minute, contending that they were trying to "force" Republicans into a "take-it-or-leave-it proposition."

In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Rubio compared the current debt limit negotiations to the recent standoff over the national budget - which in April almost led to a government shutdown - and said Democrats were manipulating the nation's precarious economic state as part of a strategy to win political points.

"This is not a surprise," Rubio told CBS' Bob Schieffer, of the debt limit deadline. "This didn't sneak up on us in the last couple of weeks here; we have known about this since the day I got to Washington.

"I think they deliberately let this thing go on because they were hoping to get to a last-minute situation so they could force us into a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, like they tried to do with the government shutdown earlier in the year, like they did with the stimulus package back in February when [President Obama] first took over," Rubio added.

"Up until very recently, the president was completely disengaged from this debt limit debate. And I do think that in the context of politics, there was a strategy to leave this until the last moment."

When asked if meaningful fiscal reform was possible without increasing revenues, including closing tax loopholes and eliminating deductions or subsidies, Rubio responded, "I think everybody in Washington would like to see more revenues. The question is, number one, how do you get more revenues? And number two, what do you do with it?

"I think more revenue should come from economic growth, and I think it should come from that because I think it's impossible for it to come from tax increases. None of the tax increases the President is proposing solves the problem. They don't raise enough money. In fact, they make it worse; they kill jobs.

"And by the way I don't trust Washington because they have shown time and again that any time they get their hands on their own money, they don't use it to pay or avoid debt; they use it to grow the government," Rubio said of tax hikes.

He did, however, support the idea of tax reform.

"There is a lot of support for tax reform in Washington and they're looking for some regulatory reform as well because they think these regulations that are being imposed make America a more unfriendly place to do business," Rubio told Schieffer. "When people tell you Communist China is a better place to do business than America, you know you're in trouble."


i do recall making a post just after the budget deal was done, that while everyone was focused on japan and libya, the debt limit debate would remain unmentioned, until all of a sudden we were up against the deadline.  as if the problem just presented itself.

and rubio's point is valid. this has been the mold of the democrats since they won a majority. it's the whole crisis politics thing. they did it with the bailouts, the stimulus, and healthcare. and then they go two years without passing a budget, obama's original budget for this year was rejected 97-0 in the senate, and all of a sudden, we're facing a government shutdown. now it seems they're trying to do this again.

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So if the Democrats were ignoring the debt limit, why didn't the Republicans kick up a stink about it before the last minute as well?  

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Originally Posted by Kieran Colfer:
So if the Democrats were ignoring the debt limit, why didn't the Republicans kick up a stink about it before the last minute as well?  

because at first, the democrats looked to be serious, but then at the last moment, obama got involved, and started throwing in the tax hikes, which is the ONLY detailed portion of his plan. are the cuts.

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or in simpler terms, this is classic chicago bully politics, trying to pressure the other side into conceding, rather than any grand push for bipartisanship. reprehensible.