Rubio: Budget battle in Congress is 'absurd political theatre'

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called the spending fight over the 2011 fiscal budget "absurd political theatre" and said he would not support a second stopgap spending measure.

"Running our government on the fumes of borrowed spending is unacceptable, short-sighted and dangerous," wrote Rubio in an op-ed posted Monday on the conservative blog RedState. "I commend the efforts of House and Senate Republican leaders to deal with this, but I did not come to the U.S. Senate to be part of some absurd political theatre. ... While attempts at new spending reductions are commendable, we simply can no longer afford to nickel-and-dime our way out of the dangerous debt America has amassed." House Republicans proposed a second stopgap measure on Friday that would fund the government for three weeks and include $6 billion in cuts. The measure is expected to pass the Congress later this week. The current measure funding the government expires after March 18.

Both parties are still debating a long-term spending proposal to fund the government through the rest of fiscal year 2011.

Rubio concluded his post by calling on his colleagues to strike a permanent deal before leaving on a week-long recess, which is scheduled to begin Friday.

"With Congress set to begin another week-long recess next week, every senator and representative should feel ashamed if they have to go home again, look their constituents in the eye, and explain why nothing is being done about our debt crisis," wrote Rubio.

The Senate is scheduled to convene at 2 p.m. on Monday.