Rubio A No Vote On Debt Deal

MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Florida Senator Marco Rubio said Monday he would vote against the debt ceiling compromise bill worked out between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Senator Rubio, who rode a tea party frenzy into Washington, may be the only South Florida member of Congress who votes against the deal. Fellow Florida Senator Bill Nelson tweeted out Monday afternoon he would vote for the deal.

"This is going to cut almost $3 trillion from the deficit," Nelson wrote. "It's not a perfect plan, but it's something we need to have right now."

All House members from South Florida voted in favor of the bill.

"Should it have taken this long? No," said Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican.

"I think we should have resolved this long ago," said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

The specifics of the deal work like this: an initial increase in the debt ceiling of $900 billion, subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress, and that would be paired with $900 billion worth of discretionary spending cuts.

After that, President Obama would be allowed to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress. But, the second increase would be paired with the formation of a Congressional super committee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts and tax reforms.

But, if the super committee fails to identify the prescribed amount, an automatic across the board spending cut half from domestic spending and half from defense spending of $1.2 trillion would be triggered.

If the committee finds between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion, the remaining amount up to $1.5 trillion will be deducted from domestic spending and defense spending.

"At the end of the day, this is a deal that's not perfect, that both sides are really swallowing hard to vote for," said Wasserman Schultz.

"What is important is that we're able to get this out of the way, that we can show the markets, show the rating agencies,  that we're not going to continue to borrow at a rate that's unsustainable," said Diaz-Balart.