GOP warns Obama against tax increases

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, in his Republican response to Obama's State of the Union address, said he hoped that the president would "abandon his obsession with raising taxes" and pursue policies that would foster economic growth and help middle-class families achieve prosperity.

"Presidents in both parties - from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan - have known that our free-enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity. But President Obama? He believes it's the cause of our problems," Rubio said.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, in excerpts from a separate tea party response, cast blame on both parties, saying "Washington acts in a way that your family never could - they spend money they do not have, they borrow from future generations, and then they blame each other for never fixing the problem."

Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party, pointed to his Miami roots to address Obama's frequent portrayal of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney - and his party - as only caring about the wealthiest Americans. Rubio said he still lived in the "same working-class neighborhood I grew up in" and his neighbors "aren't millionaires" but retirees, workers and immigrants.

"The tax increases and the deficit spending you propose will hurt middle-class families. It will cost them their raises. It will cost them their benefits. It may even cost some of them their jobs. And it will hurt seniors because it does nothing to save Medicare and Social Security," Rubio said.

"So Mr. President, I don't oppose your plans because I want to protect the rich. I oppose your plans because I want to protect my neighbors," he said.

Rubio said the nation needed a balanced budget amendment and said he would not support changes to Medicare that would hurt seniors. But he said anyone in favor of keeping a status quo on Medicare "is in favor of bankrupting it."

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20130213_13_A4_WASHIN939263&rss_lnk=16

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