This is an msnbc special town hall with senator marco rubio from Florida International university in miami. Here is chuck todd. [ applause ] and good evening, and welcome to the msnbc town hall with republican senator marco rubio of florida. Were here on the campus of Florida International university right here in miami. Home of the fiu panthers. Lets go, panthers. [ cheers and applause ] dont tell my friends a little north of here what i just said. Anyway, the question that in this is a critical moment for senator rubio to date. Hes won just 2 contests out of 24 in the race for president which makes tuesdays primary in his home state of florida absolutely critical to his chances. So lets get started and welcome the senator from florida, marco rubio. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. [ applause ] thank you. All right. You happy when youre home . Yeah. Are you happy when youre home . Youre in your own bed. Home, home. You teach here. I teach at fiu. Some people got as in here. You a tough grader . No, theyre voters. Wow, the real trick, right . Always get the professor whos running for office. All right. Lets get started with stuff that you probably dont want to talk about. It was a tough night last night for you. Yeah. Youve only won 2 contests out of 24. You have a lot of even friends of yours that are saying theyre not sure why youre going to keep going. So what do you tell them ive heard that from the press. I understand that. No, but, look, the bottom line is this, first of all, running for president is tough. It shouldnt be easy. Second of all, i would say to you it is true we havent done as well in some of the states that we wanted to. But its going to come down to florida for me and it always has. Florida is going to award 99 delegates all at once. That means you can win more delegates in florida than you can across five or seven states in an apportioned process. It always was going to be a priority. Even if i had done really well in all the previous states, if i had not done well in florida, it would be trouble for our campaign so we need to win here, thats our priority. Were focused on it like a laser. Were going to win. We feel really good about it. Youre at a point [ applause ] you have said a vote in the state of florida, vote for ted cruz or john kasich is a vote for donald trump. Is that your attitude in ohio . Are you telling your supporters, vote for john kasich in ohio . No, but im telling you in florida why not . Its the reality. Shouldnt that be the strategy . Ill let kasich say that to you. In florida, the only one who has a chance of beating donald trump is me. Now, if [ applause ] if you like donald trump, that doesnt matter, but if you dont want donald trump to be the nominee, even if youre a supporter of ted cruz or even if youre a supporter of john kasich, you vote for marco rubio because a vote for anyone other than me is a vote for donald trump. Im the only one that almost a million votes are already in. Im the only one who has any chance of beating donald trump in florida because if he gets floridas 99 delegates we have a different conversation next wednesday about the state of the republican race. Do you think youre struggling in florida because youre retiring from the senate . That there is a lack of no, i just think a lack of you are general for you . A couple things in florida, number one, its a big, big state. No one can run a fulltime president ial campaign in florida and also be running one in new hampshire, iowa, south carolina, the other states we were invested in. Second of all, its a state largely been operating off the National Media and the National Media, to be fair, has given donald trump ten times as much coverage than any other republican candidate combined. Part of it is because he says outrageous things but its had an impact. Were working on reversing that now here in florida. Its going to be a lot of hard work, but you know what, ive been in tough races before. Its an election. You have to earn these things. Let me tell you, running for president is not nearly as hard as being president , so you better hope your president went through a trial in the campaign, because being president is even harder. [ applause ] you know, the other thing im wondering about this is [ applause ] that as much of the personality of donald trump gets in the way, there isnt an ideological difference. The two of you have two different definitions of conservatism. You know, his is sort of an older version of it, a small c conservative, less interventionist, tighter borders, skeptical of trade deals. Youre more of you look at america as a world power, sort of being at the center of the world a little more open to intervention. Obviously a little more open to immigration. A little more open to trade deals. Thats really the debate inside the Republican Party that, perhaps, republicans just want to go back to an older definition of conservatism and not yours . I think you give donald trump too much credit in terms of ideological stand. I mean, hes all over the place on some of these issues and its largely about an attitude, not about policy. [ applause ] if hes consistent on one thing its protectionism going back to 87 except for his own businesses where he makes everything overseas. But the thing i would say to you about it, im a Ronald Reagan conservative. I grew up in the era of reagan. My view of conservatism is shaped by that experience. And it is not an interventionist position. It is the belief that the world is a better place when america is the strongest country in the world. Look, in the absence of American Global leadership, there is no other nation or institution that can play that role and the result is chaos, and the evidence of it is every sector of the world today faces chaos. The absence of American Leadership in the asiapacific region has led to the chinese taking over the south china sea, north koreans increased aggression. Its led to natos reduction in capability inviting Vladimir Putin to be more aggressive. The lack of American Leadership in the middle east resulted in the vacuums that exist in syria, in iraq, increasingly in libya. So, theres a consequence for the lack of American Leadership. Youre seeing it all over the world. Some might argue its too much intervention that created, that suddenly that created ive heard that in some cases but its not accurate. Libya, the uprising was caused by the libyan people. Gadhafi was on his way out. Whether it took years or six months. The choice we had to make, did we let it go for two years . The same has been the case in syria. And in the case of iraq, that was the withdrawal, the premature withdrawal by barack obama that left maliki in charge, allowed him to really go hard after the sunnis and the sunnis welcomed isis in as liberators. Not anymore but they did initially because they viewed the shia government in baghdad as a puppet of iran. And bad towards them. Let me move to something. Youve been awfully harsh on donald trump, in fact, we put together a montage of the clips. Let me play it for you. Ive been harsh . Ill go anywhere to speak to anyone before i let a con artist get ahold of the Republican Party. I mean, hes so thin skinned. So erratic. And to think youre going to make someone like that commander in chief, i want people to think about that. I think the problem here is that donald trump is not really a republican. Hes not a conservative. I mean, donald trump basically has policy positions that are indistinguishable from democrats. Do not give into the fear. Do not give into anger. Do not give into sham artists and con artists. And what hes trying to carry out is a scam to take control of the office of the presidency of the United States. [ applause ] i guess my question is, how can you support a con artist . Just because you any regret on the idea that you will support donald trump as the nominee . Well, first of all you call him a con artist, scam artist. I think its indicative of how bad i think Hillary Clinton would be or Bernie Sanders to even contemplate that. But let me say because i cant you think theyre con artists, though . Thats the thing. I think Bernie Sanders is a socialist which he admits. I think Hillary Clinton is unqualified to be the president of the United States because of the way she handled the email server and donald trump the bottom line, i dont want him to be the nominee. The fact that youre even asking me the question tells you why this is a problem. If anyone else, if john kasich was where donald trump is now, if jeb bush is where donald trump is now nobody would be asking that question. The race is over. Would you be out of the race if this were john kasich thats the point. The point is no matter what i say today about supporting or not supporting the nominee, theres a significant percentage of republicans that are not going to vote for donald trump. And that is why hell get destroyed in the general election. Thats what will happen. [ applause ] its one thing to say youll support him. Should we assume theres no way you could be on a ticket with a con artist . If you put it that way you are calling him a con artist. I cant imagine im not running for Vice President , im not looking to be anyones Vice President. I want to be the president can you be shermanesque . If he offers if donald trump offers you the slot, you will say no . Im not interested in being Donald Trumps or anybody elses Vice President. Thats not what im aiming at. You didnt answer the question. I dont want to be Vice President of the United States. If donald trump asked you, youd say no . Absolutely. By the way, i am not running to be anyones Vice President. Im not looking to be anyones Vice President. I want to be the president of the United States or ill be a private citizen. Theres nothing wrong with being a private citizen. So i love public service, but its what i do. Its not who i am. Any thought theres been all these people that are trying to get you and ted cruz to somehow fuse together as a ticket to stop donald trump. You open to that at all . You know what, had i said that in an earlier interview. Thats kind of house of cards stuff. Looks good on tv, it doesnt ever work that way. Bottom line is, you know, this process is going to play itself out. We are focused on florida. So dont be surprised if we dont do well in some other states next tuesday because were not there. Were here. Wed like to pick up delegates in other states. We have good teams in other states. But were focused on florida. My home state, 99 delegates. We do well here, well talk wednesday about the state of the race. I feel very positive about it. [ applause ] on that note, let me get some students involved in a couple of questions. Here. We got a lot of them, actually. Jose andreas. How are you, senator . Hi. My question is, how can you sacrifice basic christian principles like loving your neighbor, as we saw with recent verbal attacks on trump . You justified this by saying if anyone deserves it, its him. The bible says, we deserve hell, yet we still receive grace. As a christian as well, this question is important to me. Well, let me say on the policy issues i dont think that violates my faith because the result is righteous indignation. And when someone is telling you something in were talking about the presidency of the United States. So youre going to elect the next commander in chief, someone that will have a real impact on the future of our country, representing themselves as someone who theyre not, its appropriate in the campaign to point those out. Personal stuff, at the end of the day its is not something im proud of, my kids were embarrassed by it. If i had to do it again, i wouldnt. Not on the other charges. Not on the other things. When it comes to the fact hes portraying himself as hes not, the stakes are not a worthless degree at Trump University, the stakes are not a worthless degree from Trump University but stakes are the greatest nation on earth. On that, i think im well within the reaches of my faith you regret the schoolyard stuff . You know why, because in the end what happened is, first of all, i think he had to be stood up to. I really do believe that. But that said, but that said, thats not the campaign i want to run. It took a toll on you. Well, i dont know about political toll. Im saying you didnt look comfortable doing, to be honest. Look, he needed to be stood up. This is a guy whos basically offended everyone for a year. Literally has mocked a disabled journalist, a female journalist, every Minority Group imaginable on a daily basis. I mean you run it becomes used profanity from the stage. That said, yeah, i dont want to be that. If thats what it takes to become president of the United States, then i dont want to be president. I dont think thats what takes in fact, to be president. I know its not what it takes. Its not what we want from our next president. If i had to do it again, i would have done that part differently. Not the stuff about his record on business. Thats legitimate. The people need to know what they are electing is not who he says he is. All right. Thank you very much. Let me bring up adrian. Thank you, senator, and thank you, chuck. You got it. My question for you, senator, you received money from Hedge Fund Managers like paul singer and mega corporations like the geo group, private prison corporation. How often are you influenced by money from hedge funds and prison systems on none. My agenda in is writing. Im the only candidate that has an extensive agenda online. I also have an extensive agenda laid out in my book. When someone gives money to my campaign, theyre buying into my agenda, im not buying into their agenda. Its there to be held accountable to. And everybody in this race has contributors. Every issue in america has money on both sides of it. Everyone in this race, even donald trump who said hes selffunded has loaned his campaign 17 million, which means he expects to be paid back by contributors. You have to be willing to say, look, heres my agenda and because of my agenda there are people who dont support me. That was not 50 contributions. Those were multimillion dollar checks were written and used to try to defeat me in this campaign. Those people have interests. Some of them were Hedge Fund People as well. Ultimately i take a clear positions on issues. You can hold me accountable to where i stand. And people either support my agenda or oppose it. There are people that support it and there are people that oppose it. In america you have a First Amendment right to participate in the process that way. In addition, im sorry, chuck. Its okay. Candidates like Bernie Sanders dont receive any money from any Interest Groups unless its the people, people like sitting in this room. So how would you compare yourself to Bernie Sanders . Theres no comparison, Bernie Sanders is a socialist and if you want to live in a socialist country [ applause ] i think if someone if you want to turn america into a socialist democracy, you are he going to have to win an election, fight you every step of the way. If you want to live in a socialist country, there are dozens of countries around the world you can move to. Im going to fight every day to keep america a Free Enterprise society so theres no [ applause ] quick before we go to break. If you could change one thing about the Campaign Finance system after going through all this as a candidate, what would you change . I dont know. I mean, to be honest with you, i dont know. You think its broken . Well, look, theres a lot of money in politics. But here the bottom line. Theres a lot heres the bottom line. If you look at whats happened in this campaign, the dominant feature of the Trump Campaign has not been that he ran a bunch of commercials. Its been that hes been able to dominate the earned media. You had the head of cbs, donald trump may not be good for america but hes good for cbs because of ratings. I think thats true in every one of these networks. So there are millions and millions of dollars of media thats out there. And the other point i would make, every time we tried to run a commercial, all these Media Outlets charge us. We have to raise money. You keep charging us to run commercials. That, i hear you. Theres no magic wand youd wave here. I dont know. The First Amendment is so broad that it allows people to run ads that are lying about me. Theyre allowed to do it. Speaking of television ads, i have to run a couple here. Take a quick break. When we come back, were going to do immigration, health care. Some real policy wonk stuff. Be right back. Jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive try cool mint zantac. Hey, need fast heartburn relief . It releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. Zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. Nexium can take 24 hours. Try cool mint zantac. No pill relieves heartburn faster. Uh. Introducing centrum vitamints. A new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint. With a full spectrum of nutrients. 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In both el salvador, guatemala, honduras theres a terrible security situation, in many ways a breakdown of government. And so i know theres there effort, alliance for progress, work to be done. As chairman of the western hemisphere subcommittee, weve worked with the Vice President s office or tried to, anyway, to kind of figure out the contours of what we can do. I think the model for that would be what we were able to do with colombia. Colombia about 15, 20 years allege was on the verge of being a failed state and because of u. S. Assistance and some incredible choices by the colombians and contributions made on the colombians they were able to turn around the security situation in colombia. I think the situation in honduras and guatemala is tougher. Than what was faced during that time but i do believe that we should work with those countries to build up the infrastructure necessary, law enforcement, judiciary, so forth to deal with the violence that is driving people out of those countries and seeking harbor in the United States. Thank you. Thank you. Is there [ applause ] how much of our immigration issue or the perceived first of all, do you believe we have an Immigration Crisis . Because net migration is down. Yes. So is this more of a perception problem that we have when it comes to immigration . Net economy congratulation little fluctuate. Youll have years where theres not a lot of jobs so people go back. People are still coming in. Thats not the question. The question is whether we have a system in place today in which an uncontrolled number of people are able to unlawfully either enter the country or overstay visas. And what that does is, as long as that exists, as long as that is problematic, we cant make the Legal Immigration system work. Makes people reluctant to improve it or move forward on it. So irrespective of the net numbers you still have a substantial number of people entering illegally every year and overstaying. Youre seeing that with cubans who instead of coming on rafts through the florida straits are going to mexico and then crossing the border to get in. People crossing the border from mexico are no longer just from mexico, theyre from all over the world. It is a problem. It is a serious problem. Visa overstays are a problem in miami and in florida and does have to be dealt with. Until that is dealt with, i dont think were going to make progress on anything else on immigration. You said on day one you would eliminate the daca order. Thats right. I know that doesnt mean everybodys deported on day one. There is a difference it means they cant renew their permit. When their permit expires, do deportations begin . I think you always prioritize criminals and dangerous people for it. Deportation is the final process in a longer process when someones in this country without status and here illegally, thats not the way its reported sometimes it makes it sound like you have hit teams out there rounding people up. Thats not the way the process works. My preferred outcome would be we bring ilLegal Immigration under control, we prove it to the American People and then were able to move forward on the rest of it. I believe if we can prove to people ilLegal Immigration is under control, the American People are going to be very reasonable about what do you do with somebody who came here when they were 3 years old, doesnt speak another language . You want to deal with this so why rescind the order . Its unconstitutional. I believe in cutting taxes. This specific order is you just believe its unconstitutional i believe that we should do something to accommodate young people who are in the country who were brought here through no fault of their own. I dont think you can do that in an un constituticonstitutional. I would love to cut taxes but if the president ordered the irs to stop collecting a certain percentage of tax, i would be against it. If you undermine the constitution, you lose your country. We have to do this we have to solve this but through a constitutional way. It cant be by the president doing whatever he wants. How quickly of a priority is it for you, though . Well, its an important priority. Is it first 100 days type of priority . Enforcing the Immigration Laws has to be, securing our border if youre going to rescind the order, dont you need to immediately have a basically some dreamer legislation ready to go . You cant pass anything until ilLegal Immigration is under control. Its not going to happen in six months or a year. It takes time and weve tried it. Its been tried three times and it fails every time. You say to people this law requires a fence, more Border Agents and they say to you, we dont believe it, we dont think the federal government will do it. Weve heard this promise before. If you do it and prove it to them, i think it unlocks the door to the rest how do you ever prove it then . I just think youre moving goal posts here. Im not saying you, everybody is. I think you can see when the 700 miles of fencing and walls has been completed you think we need to physically put a barrier. Across 700 miles. Not the entire border. Key sectors. What you want to do is funnel traffic to areas you can control and thats why thats the purpose of fencing is to ensure that any traffic we have legal traffic that comes over the border. We have trade. A lot of people that come back and forth to shop and do business. So the point is, but you want crossings to happen in an area that is controlled and monitored. And right now you have porous orders and it inviting trafficking groups to bring people across the barrier. Lets go to the next question. Hi, senator rubio. How are you, chuck . If you institute your meritbased immigration policy, wouldnt you be shutting out your people like your parents . Yeah, well, you wouldnt shut them out, but its a different process. My parents came in 1956. The world is a different place from 1956. When my parents arrived in the u. S. In 1956, my dad had a fourth grade education, maybe. My mom had about the same. If they came today under those circumstances, they would really struggle to succeed because in the 21st century economy unless you have a certain level of skill or education, its hard to find a sustainable job. So we always change policies when times change and immigration policy is no different. And so today in the 21st century, immigration policy has to be primarily based on merit. That doesnt mean everyones a ph. D. It does mean that before you come in, you should be able to prove what skills are you going to bring to the u. S. . It also, by the way, would open up more green cards for graduates from our universities graduating at the top of their class in sciences, technology and other fields and then they cant stay. That doesnt mean there wontbeb a familybased system. The priority and the base of the system needs to be merit based. Absolutely. Its not the same system my parents came across in 1956 because nothing looks like it did 60 years ago. Thank you. Thank you, daniel. I want to ask you a quick one on h1b visas. Theres been controversy. Disney brought in a whole bunch of people on h1b visas and essentially made some americans put them out of work. Correct, and its wrong. Ill tell you how thats happening. Youre an advocate, mostly an advocate of the visa programs. But thats like saying, i want to get rid of handicap parking stickers because i saw some guy abusing the handicap parking sticker. The h1b program is not the central issue. The central issue is the abuse of it. And heres how the abuse is happening. A lot of abuse of it. It is but theres how theyre doing it. Disney and other Companies Hire an outsourcing agency like this company, tata, a consulting agency. These Companies Control an inordinate number of visas. So, youre not even hiring the workers. Youre hiring the company. The company is then bringing them in as contractors. They dont even work for disney. They work for the company. Thats how they get around the h1b requirement that youre not replacing americans. There has to be reforms to limit the number of visas controlled by these consulting companies. But also to require a stricter enforcement only whether or not youre hiring people to replace american workers. It is illegal now to use h1b to replace an american worker. Were driving down wages from pretty good jobs. A 150,000 job goes to an 80,000 job. Its illegal now under the law now. And so thats the process of move enforcement, of catching companies that are doing that, using the Consultancy Group and outsourcing loophole, punish them, if you do it once, youll face a penalty, and if you do it twice, youll be prohibited from using the h1b program again. Your work with the gang of eight has made your campaign a little more difficult, do you think . Weve been attacked on it. The bottom line is i tried to solve a problem. I told people when i ran for the senate, i told people that i was going up there to do two things. To stand up to the obama agenda, but also to offer an alternative. So in 2013, i was a member of a senate controlled by harry reid and there was going to be movement on immigration and i said, im going to get involved and try to make it the best possible legislation, as conservative as i possibly can because the way this process works is even if the Senate Passes a law, it has to go to the house, controlled by conservatives and theyre going to make it better. And thats what i was saying at the time. Its not what im saying now. It didnt work that way. The house never took it up. And so the senate bill is the only thing that happened. I never believed the senate bill should be the final law. You may be out of step with where your party is right now . Well, look, its the problem is worse today than it was three years ago. In essence, we continue to have an ilLegal Immigration problem, we still dont have a fence. We still dont have the 20,000 new Border Agents, you still have 12 million or 13 Million People here illegally. I argued then we have to do something. I tried to do something. Its a messy process. At the end of the day doesnt it to have be done bipartisanly . I cant imagine one party being able to jam this through. Well, i think if im president of the United States, its not going to look like the senate bill. Its going to be our way. And its going to begin look, i was very skeptical at the time of being able do it comprehensively im clear when im president of the United States you dont believe comprehensively anymore . I dont believe the support is there. At this point after two executive ors and a migratory crisis with minors on the border, i dont think comprehensive has any chance of passing any time in the near future and were wasting time. All right. Speaking of time, take another break. When we come back, health care, economy, cuba. Well be right back. When you think about success, what does it look like . Is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student . 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Hotcakes. This place has hotcakes. So why arent they selling like hotcakes . With comcast Business Internet and wifi pro, they could be. Just add a customized message to your wifi pro splash page and youll reach your customers where their eyes are already on their devices. Order up. Its more than just wifi, it can help grow your business. You dont see that every day. Introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. Comcast business. Built for business. [ applause ] and we are back. Welcome back to our msnbc town hall with republican senator marco rubio. Six days before the crucial florida primary, as the senator, himself said, its always about florida, isnt it . Some form or another, its always about florida. We like that way. I take it as a badge of honor as a floridian. The next question, i believe, has it and its on cuba. Go ahead. Good evening, senator. As a cubanAmerican Business owner, im curious to know, would you roll back all of the changes obama has made regarding cuba, or would you keep some of them . Probably all because i think theyre [ applause ] i think theyre illegal. Relations between relations between the we have to get back to this idea of rule of law in this country. Relations between the u. S. And cuba are regulated by law. The helmsburton act. These are laws that regulate any sort of changes and it outlines how there can be a change between relations between the United States and cuba. It requires reciprocal measures on the part of the cuban government. So i ask why couldnt we have gone towards cuba the way we did toward myanmar or burma, whatever the right term is these days . If you look at the opening toward them, the u. S. Made diplomatic recognition, they made some economic openings and in exchange the government there, a dictatorship allowed a political opening. By no means am i arguing theyre new zealand or canada or australia, but theyre a lot its better than they used to be because it was a requirement. We made no requirements in cuba for political openings, freedom of the press or respect of human rights. The situation in cuba today for human rights and democracy continues to deteriorate on the hopes that somehow American Business and american tourism is going to lead to a political change. It will not. All it will do is provide more resources for a dictatorship to now carry out a transition and become permanent. So i will roll back those changes and ill say if theres going to be a change in u. S. cuba relations it must be according to the laws as written by congress and should be reciprocal. What do you roll back . The travel bans, you roll everything back . Or is there some stuff you keep in place . Well, first of all, cubanamericans have been allowed to travel to cuba for a long time. The problem you have now is that people are going the problem you have now is this. You have people coming from cuba and say theyre here coming as exiles then they travel back to cuba 42 times a year. And so the question, is if youre an exile, why are you going back 42 times a year . Number one. You have today People Living in cuba that came to the u. S. A year and a day later became u. S. Residents, qualified for all sorts of assistance from the u. S. Government and are living in cuba. And their check is being deposited in a u. S. Bank account, their relatives are taking the money and wiring it back to cuba. Thats an abuse of the system and an abuse of our generosity. [ applause ] so, thats what this has opened the door to now. So whats the better solution . Rolling back what the president has done, or do we get rid of wet foot dry foot, do we reform so that basically cubans have to be under the same Immigration Law as everybody else . First of all, i would say to you that we need to close this loophole that allows people to come into the u. S. , claim residency and live in cuba you support legislation that would change that . Its my legislation. Yeah. Thats why i support it. [ laughter ] but the other point i would make to you, ive always said the cuban adjustment act is endangered given the current patterns that we see. There are people in cuba legitimately fleeing oppression. And those people should we should continue to receive them. But and then there are people that are abusing the system, and thats why i do think the cuban adjustment act should be revisited. Wet foot dry foot is the way the law is implemented. Theyre saying if you land on u. S. Soil, you get to stay, if they catch you at sea, they send you back. Thats just the way theyre applying the law. Thats not a law. Thats the policy. Do you buy the argument that the Obama Administration makes which says doing what theyve done with cuba improved relations with the rest of latin america and more importantly they will argue has actually helped to isolate venezuela in a way you couldnt isolate venezuela before . No. I mean, venezuela is isolated because theyre run by a crazy guy and they have no money. [ applause ] they have no money. Thats why theyre isolated. But if cuba is closer to the United States, thats farther away cuba is from venezuela. Being close to venezuela has no money. Theyre bankrupt. They destroyed the economy. So, cuba can be as friendly as they want to venezuela. They didnt care about being friendly. They wanted the oil. They wanted cash. They needed to survive and they need the it for subsistence. That was not going change. As far as the rest of latin america is concerned, i dont know, our relationship with argentina improved because they elected a better president. Our relationship with colombia is solid. Our relationship with panama is strong. Our relationship with honduras and guatemala is good. Our relationship with el salvador is mixed. Our relationship with mexico is largely unaffected by our relationship with cuba, so i think thats a myth that somehow its improved. The only difference is when we go to the summit of the americas we dont have to sit through a 30minute speech about get rid of the embargo. But in terms of thats not a small thing, though, is it . Its a small thing. Its just a small thing. In terms of Public Policy. All those countries still want to have a Good Relationship with the United States. All right. Were going to move on. Brandon rodriguez, you have the next question. Topic change. Id like to thank both of you for being here and hosting the town hall. I first have to say im a strong advocate for maintaining and advancing america as an energy superpower, however, rising sea levels have become a concern for many citizens here in florida as well as citizens of other states, in new york, california. What are your views on this in that and what will you do as president to ensure us a future . Well, first of all, if youre having flooding, weve had flooding for a long time. I remember sweetwater a few blocks from here used to have massive flooding before they put drainage in. I live in west miami, which is basically waterfront property 20 years ago any time it rained. We always have flooding because we happen to live in a swamp thats been filled in and now we have People Living here. Rising sea level impacting flooding, im in favor of mitigation program. Of course we want to do all that. Youre getting at a broader question, what Public Policy can we pursue . And i would say to you that i do want to lead the world in energy resource, fully utilize oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, wind, solar, biofuels. I want to lead in all of them. I want the u. S. To be number one in every source of energy, have the most diverse portfolio possible. And allow the private allow the market to choose which one makes sense but as far as what impact thats going to have on the climate, not even the most stringent advocate if theyre being honest of these laws can tell you youre going to see a measurable difference in sea level any time in your lifetime or mine. On the other hand, if we pass laws that mandate things on our economy, an Economic Cost will be associated with it. I would say to you that innovation and technology are already basically driving us in the direction. That people concerned about Sea Level Rise want us to go. My only argument is allow the market to drive it, not government mandates. Where are you on Climate Change . Thats a measurable thing. First of all, the climate is always changing. This notion that the climate used to be the same for 1,000 years and now its different, climate is always changing. What mans contribution is to it, you know, thats what people are arguing about all the time in terms of most Scientists Say humans have contributed to it. They cant agree at what percentage but i can tell you this, none of the laws they want me to pass would do a thing about it. You believe its still your responsibility to deal with it. Look, if you have flooding in miami beach, you have to deal with it. We had flooding in west miami where i lived 15, 20 years ago. We dealt with it. Is south beach overdeveloped . Part of this is, are we risking too much of the economy by developing to the point where if a small flood could create too much damage . Were developing in coastal areas in this country because people want to live near the water and its overdeveloped or not, its too late now. Shouldnt those folks help pay for the mitigation . Yeah, im not going there. Theyll have to figure that out locally. Because the bottom line is thats already there. What are you going to do now roll back miami beach 100 years. Miami beach is an artificial island. Its there now, its a key part of our economy. Were going to protect it. We want to protect it. We want it to be a vibrant place to live. Its there. We need to deal with. Arianna rodriguez. New topic. Hello, senator. Thank you for being here today. My question for you is earlier last month the Florida House approved a campus carry bill that would allow handguns on college campuses. What is your view on this policy and how would you regulate it to make sure that students and professors are safe . Well, i think that if you have a law, lawabiding people will follow it and criminals will ignore it. If god forbid this afternoon some lunatic or someone who has Mental Illness or a dangerous criminal decides they want to come on the campus of this university, god forbid, and harm someone, theyre not going to care its illegal to do it, theyre criminals, theyre going to violate the law. The only people that follow laws are lawabiding people. I am a gun owner. So, if the law says i cant do something, i wont do it. But these thugs that are shooting up our communities, it is already illegal to shoot up our communities so they dont care if its illegal to have a gun on campus, theyll bring it on campus because theyre criminals. So, i would just say to you on the realm of that, heres why its difficult. Think about it this way. Im a gun owner and i like to drive in my car and have a gun in my car for my protection but i have to go to fius campus. So, what do i do when i get to southwest 107th avenue, do i dump the gun in the bush, park my car and pick it up after class is over . You cant. Thats why those laws are justified because you want people to be able to protect themselves to and from work or to and from school. Its not just on campus. Its being able to not have to throw it out. That said, it is illegal to use a gun in the commitance of a crime and criminals dont care because theyre criminals. All right. Thank you. All right. Were going to sneak in another break. When we come back, little more indepth on the economy and housing. And can you explain why you recommend synthetic over cedar . Super food . Is that a real thing . Its a great school, but is it the right one for her . Is this really any better than the one you got last year . If we consolidate suppliers, whats the savings there . So should we go with the 467 horsepower . Ois a 423 enough . Good question. You ask a lot of good questions. I think we should move you into our new fund. Sure. Ok. But are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed . Wealth management at charles schwab. But ive managed. E Crohns Disease is tough, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. And when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe Crohns Disease. And that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. And many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Hi im kristie. And im jess. And we are the bug chicks. Were a nanobusiness. Windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. Kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. Hey cortana, find my katydid video. Oh this is so good. If youre trying to teach a kid about a proboscis. Just sketch it on the screen. I dont have a touch screen on my mac, im jealous of that. You put a big bug in a kids hands and change their world view. We are back. Welcome back to the msnbc town hall. Im here with republican senator marco rubio. Six days before the florida primary. Were going to talk about an issue that is pretty big here in south florida when it comes to all things having to do with the economy and what happened with the financial collapse and we have the next question. Vicente. Good evening, senator. Good evening, chuck. Now, my question is, the financial crisis of 2008 was caused in part by the irresponsible actions of banks and lenders. Although we currently see economic recovery, experts say most problems were simply thrown under the rug. As president , what course of action will you take to prevent another economic meltdown . Thats a good question. First of all, i was personally impacted by it. I bought a home in 2005 in miami. Anybody who bought a home in 2005 bought at the peak of the market. And a year and a half later, i did nothing wrong, in fact, i improved the home but it was worth less than the day i bought it and my neighbor went into foreclosure because he died of an illness and or his family went into foreclosure and that reset the prices in the neighborhood as well. Again, none of us were in trouble, none of those homes have been foreclosed except for that untimely death yet our home was worth less a year and a half later than the day we bought it because of these actions. I think there are a lot of culprits here. The Federal Reserve is a big part of it. The Federal Reserve understood that there was an overheated housing bubble, and they kept Interest Rates low artificially nonetheless. In essence, they kept goosing up the Housing Market despite the fact they knew or should have known that Interest Rates were too low. Banks created lending institutions created very exotic packages for lending. And then they packaged them and they sold them as tradeable goods. And then add to all of that a law that basically required these banks to create these sort of packages because we wanted every american to own a home even if they couldnt make the payments and the result is the housing crisis. So i think the best way forward is twofold. Number one, have a rulesbased system for our Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is not supposed to run our economy. It is a central bank. It is supposed to maintain the stability of our currency, and it should have very specific rules that trigger when Interest Rates go up and when they go down or when they stay the same. And, number two, very simple rules to regulate banks that have a very Clear Capital requirement of how much banks need to hold in reserve, very clearly deleniated. Delineated. Not so complicated that local lenders and regional banks and Community Banks cant comply. Its not a coincidence after dodd frank, local banks, regional banks, small Community Banks are being hurt. Theyre disappearing while big banks are bigger than theyve ever been because complex laws help Big Industries at the expense of small ones. You know, a lot of the fervor behind trump and sanders is this whole people feeling we got the shaft. Nobody went to jail. Do you think thats a problem . Well, they committed a crime, they should go to jail. But the attitude has been unfortunately there was no law in the books that whatever they did was all actually technically legal and it shouldnt have been. Well, but you cant heres the bottom line. If it was legal, its legal. I dont think its right. Just because somethings legal doesnt make it right. So there are people that probably did things that were immoral and wrong and cashed out knowing their practices were unsustainable. But that doesnt make it illegal. It makes it negligent, it makes it irresponsible, it makes it immoral, but thats different from saying illegal. If someone committed a crime, they should go to jail. They should not be protected because of who they are or what influence they might have but it has to be a crime. One of the things miami is experience is something that some other major cities, washington and new york city experienced it. Foreign money comes in, raises Property Values to the point where average middle class residents here in miami cant afford to live here. Thats right. Theyre paying cash. Right. Foreigners come in, they pay cash. Again, its good for Property Values short term. Its good for the seller, bad for the buyer. And its not good for average working people who are looking to own a home. What do you do . Largely the answer to that comes from local government through a combination of things. Number one is, you know, this is going to get complicated but i did zoning work early in my legal career. And part of it is the density requirements, development. If you create a for example, the highest and best use of a waterfront property is not going to be, you know, affordable residential housing. Its going to be highrises with good views that are expensive. But in other communities you have to make it you have to have zoning and comprehensive planning laws that make it feasible to create Workforce Housing and Family Housing for a developer who is only going to take on the risk of a project, if, number one, they can get a good rate of return per square foot, and, number two, if they can qualify people to buy. I still think rental stock is important. Not everyone is at a stage in their life where they need to be buying so you have to make a costeffective for rental housing and rental apartments and so forth to be cost effective, but a lot of that is a function of local government. It is not really a federal issue other than the banking and the Interest Rates and things of this nature. Our next question. David nabors has a question. Yes, sir. Im an inspiring law student, so my condolences. [ laughter ] issues presenting to our federal judiciary are of particular importance to me, but i feel that a lot of people, especially people my age, dont fully grasp the importance of those issues. Last month, our country suffered a great loss with the passing of justice scalia, and it seems the next president is going to be in a position to appoint multiple justices to the high court. So can you speak a little bit about the importance of appointing principled conservatives to the court and also about what specific qualities you would look for in potential appointees . Well, people say conservative and i believe that. But i think what you really need is someone who understands that the constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is a document that is supposed to be applied as originally meant. The job of the court is not to change the constitution. The job of the court is to apply it. There is a way to change the constitution. Its article 5. And it provides for amendment process. And weve had amendments in this country. There are a couple id like to see. Id like to see term limits on congress. Id like to see term limits on the court. Id like to see a balanced budget amendment. But i dont think the court can impose that. So i do believe irrespective of the personal views of a judge, of a justice at an appellate level, their job is not to be a policymaker, their job is to apply the constitution as originally meant. If the constitution ends up meaning whatever you want it to mean, it becomes meaningless. Its a document of limitation. Limits the power of the federal government, reserves governmental power to the states and we need more judges that understand it and do it that way. Thank you, sir. You said Something Interesting you wouldnt give a lifetime appointment. What would you make, you have an idea in mind, what would you make for term of a federal judge . 20 years, 25 years, a generation . Im open to whatever it is. There should be a limit. I dont believe anyone should be in any position inperpetuity. One of the arguments in favor of it, it makes them immune to pressure, you know, if youre on the court and if youre on the court and didnt live as long back then. Do you think that had something to do with it . Yeah, i guess. I dont mean to be that crass about it. Life expectancy was quite less than it is now. But my point is that, you know, i think that term limits are good. Whether its 8 years, 12 years in the legislative branch, i dont know, but i think it is good. Our system was built for people not in there for 50 years. It was built for some who had reallife experience, they come in, go back out. Let me ask you about a litmus test. Overturning roe v. Wade. Would you ask a potential Supreme Court nominee that question . You know, no nominee would you ask, what tells you thats going to be somebody first i want to make somebody thats going to be a scalia conservative. Number one, ill make sure they have the intellectual capacity to defend their views. One of the things that made scalia effective, he was an excellent communicators of his ideas and his positions. Do you think that matters a little bit, little bit of charisma, a little bit its not verbal. I understand. In his writing hes able to express, and the clerks do a lot of the work but i think its important to have someone who has the intellectual capacity to express their views whether in the majority of the dissent and the ability to understand and comprehend complex issues, number one. Number two, i want to make sure that its someone that has the view of the constitution that i do, that its a document of limitation to be applied as originally meant. And i will like to see a record of having believed that way. As far as how they would rule in a particular case, no nominee will answer that question. No does Justice Roberts not have enough, in hindsight, not have enough of a record to make your comfortable . Comfortable . I wasnt involved in this nomination process. I understand that. Thats come up in this campaign. I havent gone back and looked at what his record was before then. I believe he was in private practice. And, so, again, i would like to see you want more of a track record . I want someone that has a proven record whether its academia or on the bench of defending, the job of the Supreme Court justice is to apply the constitution according to its original meaning, not to reach policy conclusions theyd like. All right. Speaking of limitations, one more break. Well be right back with more with marco rubio here in miami, florida, on the campus of Florida International university. I think we shouldve taken a tarzan know where tarzan go tarzan does not know where tarzan go. Hey, excuse me, do you know where the waterfall is . Waterfall . No, me tarzan, king of jungle. Why dont you want to just ask somebody . If youre a couple, you fight over directions. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Oh ohhhhh its what you do. Ohhhhhh do you have to do that right in my ear . I am a lot of things. I am his sunshine. I am his advocate. So i asked about adding oncedaily namenda xr to his Current Treatment for moderate to severe alzheimers. It works differently. When added to another aleimers treatment, it may improve overall function and cognition. And may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. Vo namenda xr doesnt change how the disease progresses. It shouldnt be taken by anyone allergic to memantine, or whos had a bad reaction to namenda xr or its ingredients. Before starting treatment, tell their doctor if they have, or ever had, a seizure disorder, difficulty passing urine, liver, kidney or bladder problems, and about medications theyre taking. 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Thats why comcast business doesnt leave you there. When you call, a Small Business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. No annoying hold music. Just a real person, real fast. Whenever you need them. Great, thats what i said. So your business can get back to business. Sounds like my rides ready. Dont get stuck on hold. Reach an expert fast. Comcast business. Built for business. All right. We got our final minutes here with florida senator marco rubio. And im going to end where we began a little bit of state of the campaign, state of your political ambition a little l bit. First of all, theres some reports that jeb bush is having a meeting with you, john kasich, the four of you getting together before the debate tomorrow night. I spoke to jeb bush a number of times but i dont discuss private conversations. Would his endorsement help you . Sure. I mean, look, hes a very respected person in the state. I throughout the Campaign Said i have Great Respect and admiration for him. And i still do. You said something in your victory speech when you won the u. S. Senate seat. This is what you said, washington is a place that literally changes people and within a short period of time, they forgot why they even ran. Six years later, is there some truth to that with you . Not with me. Im running today for the same reasons i ran in 2010, only the stakes are higher. Five years later, we see many of the things that made america a special country in a lot of trouble. And i say both parties are to blame for that. We have to remember why were exceptional. Its because its the one place on earth where are we going to dance tonight . Youre born doesnt determine how far you go. They understand that in miami and fiu especially. [applause]. Look, we have the potential to lose that. And i want this to continue to be a country where parents can do for their children what my parents did for me. If we have another four like we did the last eight well lose it. Either party isnt doing enough. Thats why i ran for president. Senator rubio, i have to leave it there. Thank you. A couple of Public School kids in miami. Thats it for all of us. Big thank you to our friends at Florida International university. A wonderful host here in miami, florida. Keep it tuned in here libera keep tuned in here for msnbc, the place for politics. Have a good night. Trump trumps, but Bernie Sanders stuns, lets play hardbal hardball. Good evening, im chris matthews, in washington, Bernie Sanders pulls an upset in michigan. Can he repeat the big 10 magic in ohio, and can anything stop trump after
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