Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said two things the president probably didn't want to hear Friday. First, he thinks perhaps the tax reform bill Congress just passed may have been too generous to corporations.
Rubio had some reservations pretty late in the game, telling his colleagues he couldn't vote for the bill if it didn't expand the child tax credit. He got his wish - the benefit was expanded from $1,100 to $2,000 for each qualifying child. So, it got his blessing, but it appears he has a regret or two about the final version.
"If I were king for a day, this tax bill would have looked different," Rubio told Florida's News Press. "I thought we probably went too far on (helping) corporations. By and large, you’re going to see a lot of these multinationals buy back shares to drive up the price. Some of them will be forced, because they’re sitting on historic levels of cash, to pay out dividends to shareholders. That isn’t going to create dramatic economic growth."
Politicians with more liberal ideologies, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), had similar complaints. For months, Sanders has railed against the GOP-led tax reform as an unfair gift to the wealthy and a billion dollar "heist" orchestrated to benefit large corporations.
Still, Rubio said the legislation they just passed is "significantly better" than the current tax code.
Now about that second thing.
In his same conversation with the News Press, Rubio was asked about the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. His fellow Republicans have been condemning the investigation as a witch hunt that is full of agents who have an anti-Trump agenda. Those complaints were given some credence when we learned of Peter Strzok's text message history. Rubio, however, told the press that he wants the investigation to continue unhindered.
"I think the best thing that can happen for the president, for the country and for everyone is that he be allowed to complete his investigation as thoroughly and as completely as possible and that we allow the facts from that investigation to lead where they may," Rubio said.