Sen. Marco Rubio was one of several conservative senators who announced he would be a "no" vote on the debt ceiling deal. Rubio issued a statement of explanation before casting the vote.
"I cannot support this plan because it fails to actually solve our debt problem, fails to diminish the risk of a credit rating downgrade and is not a long-term solution to avert a debt crisis. This plan still adds at least $7 trillion to our debt over 10 years," the statement began.
It lists several additional points that make Rubio's case:
-- The plan fails to start downsizing government immediately and leaves 98% of the downsizing till after November 2012.
-- Fails to reduce spending by what the credit rating agencies say is at least $4 trillion to avoid downgrade
-- Doesn't address health care spending, "the biggest driver of our debt," and ensures Medicare's looming bankruptcy while allowing "ObamaCare's $2.6 trillion blank check" to remain.
-- No real structural reform to spending problem
Ouch.