Whether you believe it’s sincere, or just talk, you’ve got to admire Sen. Marco Rubio’s willingness to go into in the lion’s den — and to solicit suggestions that could make the bill better.
Here’s a prime example from Mike Gallagher’s radio show:
By the way, to answer Gallagher’s question about why comprehensive reform is needed, it turns out that Democrats won’t agree to securing the border unless other concessions are made. As Sen. Flake told me yesterday, “[T]he bottom line is [that border security] was easier to get as part of the broader package, where that was what conservatives got.”
In any event, back to Rubio. Here’s an excerpt where he welcomes input:
Senator Marco Rubio: “I understand how things have been done in the past in Washington, where they come up with a bill in a room and then they basically tell everybody, ‘Here’s the solution. Take it or leave it.’ That’s never what I signed up for. On the contrary, the way I think you’re supposed to make public policy in this country is you file a bill as a starting point, but you don’t pretend you have all the answers to every question, and then you get input from others. Now, what I have suggested to those who have problems with some component of the bill is, you know, maybe you have a very valid point. In fact I’ve heard some valid objections. Let’s try to fix it. Let’s try to change it, but to just say let’s defeat the whole thing, I don’t think that’s a productive approach either. I think this is a starting point that obviously we can and should improve.”