January 20, 2016

Marco's Address To The New Hampshire House

"One truth I know is that independence runs in your veins. 'Live free or die.' That call to action inspires and echoes through the generations. If Washington encroaches on our states, we will forfeit much of what makes us different, and special, and unique from all the nations on the earth."
- Marco Rubio

This morning, Marco Rubio will be addressing the New Hampshire House of Representatives, where he will be sharing his vision for the country. As Marco spent nine years in the Florida House, he knows that local legislatures are where citizen's voices are heard best. And as president, Marco will empower states to make decisions tailored to the people that live there, whether it is on education, anti-poverty programs, or energy. 

Below are Marco's remarks, embargoed until 10:20am ET, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you to Speaker Jasper and each of you on both sides of the aisle for the opportunity to speak here today.

This is a special privilege for me. As some of you may know, I spent nine years in the Florida State House, including two as Speaker. Many of my best memories of public service happened in that time. 

There is perhaps no better example of what our Founders intended our democracy to look like than right here in this chamber. Before me sits the largest state legislature in the country, meaning you each represent, on average, just a few thousand people — many of whom you know not from campaigning, but from childhood, from the check out line at the grocery store, from church or school board meetings.

You live, work and spend most of your time with them, not with each other. Your experiences out there shape your work in here. This is why the New Hampshire House is truly a citizen legislature. It’s the people’s House. 

The closer government is to the people, the better our Founders knew it would work. This is an idea embodied in the traditional New England town hall meeting, which I’ve had the chance to participate in throughout this campaign. 

It’s important to remember how rare this variety of democracy is. The idea that people can govern their own affairs at the citizen level; this is an idea just a few centuries old. But most who have ever lived have had their affairs dictated by leaders they didn’t choose, who were far removed from the problems they faced every day.

It’s also important to remember that this system is fragile – that power has a tendency to coalesce, to centralize, and then to expand. It requires conscious effort to keep the scales of power balanced between Washington and our states. And when those efforts fail, the impact hits chambers like this even before it hits our people.

In the Florida House, we felt the growing power of Washington every day – the way it forced its way into more and more of our decisions, the way it passed down mandates, and made us spend time dealing with what it wanted rather than what Floridians wanted. 

Washington’s growth in stature and size has been the fault of both parties, and more than one president. But it’s a simple truth that the rate of growth has increased under Barack Obama.
This isn’t the place to list every shortcoming of his administration. But I would be remiss if I failed to mention that we’re gathered today on the 7th anniversary of his inauguration. This provides an opportunity to pause and take stock of the “change” this president promised and delivered.

We know Barack Obama isn't a bad person, but it is my belief that he misunderstands our country. He views our federal government as a tool not to protect our rights, but to compel certain outcomes that he deems “fair” or “just” – to control our economy, our health care decisions, even the weather. His intentions may have been good, but the impact of his presidency hasn’t been.

Part of the reason is that Washington is too far removed from the people it serves. The bigger it grows, the more power is siphoned away from state and local leaders like you and placed in the hands of unelected bureaucrats.

Common Core is a perfect example. As speaker, I was proud to modernize Florida’s curriculum from the bottom up – by working with parents, teachers, and school board members. Local leaders like you are always better suited to this task than D.C. bureaucrats, in part because you’re more accountable. If you don’t believe me, try getting one of those bureaucrats on the phone.

D.C. is also motivated too often by the wrong things. While your work in this chamber is a public service, for which you’re paid only $100 a year, government has become an industry in Washington – and that industry is booming. Thirteen of the richest counties in America form a circle around Washington D.C.

How can we expect that city’s politicians, lobbyists and special interests to understand better than you how opioid abuse is impacting your state? Or what a struggling family in Nashua is up against? Or what a child in Merrimack needs to succeed? Or what will help a single mom in Gilford rise from her circumstances?  

Calls for a limited federal government are not calls for a heartless government. They are an acknowledgment that while Americans deserve a government attuned to their needs and sensitive to their concerns, Washington is not the best place to find it.

For when our politics takes place far away, it becomes impersonal, and when it becomes impersonal, the answer to every problem becomes the same – to raise a tax, or create a new one-size-fits-all federal program. This makes government bigger, but not better. More active, but not more effective. I know because I’ve witnessed this in Congress.

But on the state level, innovative ideas are informed by local experiences, adjusted to unique regional needs, and as a result, the effect of your service is positive and profound. Once again, I know because I’ve seen it. 

Before I became Speaker, I held what I called “idea raisers” throughout Florida. I sought input from Floridians on what a limited but effective state government could do to make life easier. I compiled a book called 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future. And eventually, many of these ideas became law.

I felt the joy of extending to autistic children the special care and attention they need. I saw the brighter futures we built for our most impoverished neighborhoods through programs like The Miami Children's Initiative in Liberty City. And I witnessed a tangible sense of relief when I passed a law that protected families and businesses from having their property seized through eminent domain. 

Washington quantifies its successes through statistics and dollar amounts. But you feel your successes in your neighbors’ lives, in your child’s school, in your household budget.
This is why, as president, rather than telling state leaders like you to place your faith in Washington, I will tell Washington to place its faith in you. 

I will trust you to choose the curriculum and education standards that are right for your children, because I know you will work with parents and local school boards to do so.

I will trust you with our nation’s anti-poverty funds – so that whether it’s an emphasis on higher education your constituents need, or substance abuse treatment, or targeted job training, you can direct the funds to the specific needs of your community. 

I will trust you with New Hampshire’s energy future, because it is you, not faraway bureaucrats, who know how best to balance your local means of transmission and production with environmental concerns.  

As president, I will take my oath to uphold the Constitution seriously – including the 10th Amendment, which says that every power not specifically given to the federal government belongs to the states. To you. And that just so happens to be most powers.

I will recognize that no one, myself included, knows the needs of New Hampshire better than the people of New Hampshire.

Of course, the real brilliance of state government – what sets it apart from Washington – doesn’t come from this chamber or even this city. It comes from your experiences among the people you represent.

I would argue, in part because of the size of this body, that every single person in this state, no matter what they’ve been through, could find at least one person in this chamber who has been through similar trials and can connect personally with their struggles.

This is what makes your representative body so strong. But as someone who has been in a position like yours, allow me to offer a word of encouragement, because some days, your challenges here will leave you feeling stretched thin, unable to balance legislative duties with your career and family.

I know what this is like, but I also know how these struggles hold value. 

Back in 2001, I went through a difficult time. I’d recently been named Majority Whip, which made it tougher to give adequate attention to my job outside the legislature. I knew I’d either lose that job or see a significant reduction in my salary. Either one would have been a disaster for my family.

My salary could already barely cover our basic expenses. Jeanette and I had a new daughter, and like many families then and now, we felt like we were drowning under our bills. My student loan payments were close to $900. Rent was $1500. Car payments were another few hundred. Eventually we chose to sell a car and move in with Jeanette’s mother. 

I hired a headhunter to help me find a job better suited to my schedule. But I kept coming up empty. My understanding wife, who had already sacrificed so much to help me serve in office, now had to worry about my ability to provide for our family. I began to fear that the only solution was to resign from the legislature and practice law full-time again. 

I know many of you understand these pressures, these doubts. In my case, I knew my struggles were small compared to those of so many of my neighbors, and compared to the struggles my own parents had faced years before. But I found that these struggles brought into sharp focus what public service was all about. They heightened my desire to find new solutions to the old challenges facing so many families – including my own.

I’ll never forget one day, in the midst of these challenges, when I got in the car and started driving to clear my head. I found myself pulling up to the church where Jeanette and I had gotten married. I walked in, down to the front pew, opened the kneeler and began to pray. I asked God what He wanted me to do – what He wanted me to learn. I prayed His will be done, and for the strength to accept it.

By the time I left the church, I was still worried, but I’d resigned to accept whatever happened. Then, on my way back to my mother-in-law’s house, my cell phone rang. After weeks without hearing anything, the headhunter was calling to tell me that a law firm had expressed interest in my services. A door had suddenly opened and presented a way out of my predicament. 

Looking back, I see those and other periods of struggle not as distractions from my service, but as part of my service. They helped inform the work I did – work on behalf of the recent graduate languishing under student debt, or the young parent living paycheck to paycheck, or the moms and dads struggling to balance work with the desire to be home with their kids. 

And so, fellow Americans, I know you are all here for a common reason. It’s the same reason I am here. You have felt the call to serve. To help others access opportunities and achieve their potential. One of the best ways to do so is to continue being out among them.

And when you fall on times of hardship, as we all do, don’t let those experiences drive you away from this place. Bring those experiences back here to contribute to the collective wisdom of this body – a wisdom that is uniquely fit for the people you serve. 

For more than two centuries, legislatures like this and leaders like you have helped set America apart. The roots of our democracy are here – in all of you who were called to this place out of duty, not ambition. To do something, not to be someone. 

One of the questions before us in this election is: will you be able to continue your vital work? Or will your influence be transferred to another place, handed over to some anonymous face in Washington who may have never stepped foot in this state and has no appreciation for how unique it is.

Over the past year, I’ve had the honor of meeting so many of your friends, neighbors and colleagues throughout New Hampshire.  One truth I know is that independence runs in your veins. “Live free or die.” That call to action inspires and echoes through the generations.

If Washington encroaches on our states, we will forfeit much of what makes us different, and special, and unique from all the nations on the earth.

But I want you to know something. Despite everything going wrong in our country today, I believe with all my heart that God is not done with America yet. 

I believe with all my heart that God still destines for us an even better future, and the opportunity to extend the hope of a better life to more people than ever before.

Together, we can create that better future for America. You and me, and all those around this country who believe our people are still the source of our native strength, more than capable of governing their own affairs.  

And so, in closing, I’d ask you to pray. Not for me. Pray for this body, for the person to your left, and your right, and across the aisle. Pray for those you represent. 

Most of all, pray for our country. Pray that our next president will have the wisdom to place Washington’s faith in our people. And pray that God will give each of us in public life the wisdom to uplift, to serve, and to save the American Dream.

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