I believe that the bigger problem is that we're seeing people who arrive from Cuba and a year and a day later are travelling to Cuba 40 times a year, they're staying, and that's hard to justify. The problem is not that I want to deny anything to anyone; it is the need to justify those laws.
I'm always looking for a way to serve the nation, but I don't believe that it will be as vice president and I'm really not seeking it, I'm not requesting it and it won't happen.
I really - as I said, I wanted to be President of the United States. It didn't turn out that way.
Voters decided otherwise [on me as a president candidate] and I will focus on my work here in the Senate because I have nine months left. And after that, later, as a private citizen, I will continue looking for a way to contribute to the cause of political conservatism to help our state and our country and the issues that interest me. But I really don't want to be nor do I think that I will be invited to be any candidate's vice president.
I'm always talking about the issue of Puerto Rico.I also spoke about it on the Senate floor, and I think it should be given the importance, the priority it deserves.
There is one way, only one way to solve it, and that is through legislation. It cannot be through an unconstitutional executive order that violates the Constitution. That is, it doesn't matter here what you think about immigration: here you cannot violate the nation's Constitution, period.
We can't be playing around with these issues [Zika disease], because this can become very serious very quickly, as we have seen in Brazil and other countries. The funds are going to be used at the state level, but it is important for the federal government to cooperate in the federal government's role.
I think war and armed conflict is always the last of all the options you have on the table. I think you try to avoid that at all costs. Sometimes it's unavoidable. That's the lesson of World War II. I think the other lesson of the last 50 or 60 years, however, is that, the stronger the U.S. military, the stronger our defense capabilities, the stronger the chances for peace are.
I do think that there has to be a legal solution, a legal solution on the part of the nation's legislative branch, an immigration proposal.
A massive immigration bill has no chance of becoming law.
We have seen that [Zika virus] has caused, and is causing, a whole series of problems for pregnant women and for their unborn children, and we are seeing that it is transmitted by mosquitos, and mosquitos are a serious matter during the summer in Florida. So we are very worried about those funds not being available. There is $500 million dollars available from the Ebola money that was not used. I think it is going to be used immediately.
We've learned more from the newspapers sometimes than we do from our open hearings, for sure.
The federal government has the responsibility to protect the nation's public health, to protect us from foreign threats. And it [Zika] really is an illness that we are seeing arrive from abroad. So it is a threat to public health, and it is the federal government's job to cooperate in this.
Being a conservative can never be about simply an attitude. Being a conservative cannot simply be about how long you're willing to scream, how angry you're willing to be or how many names you're willing to call people. That is not conservative.
We have seen how Zika has become a very serious problem in Brazil, in other parts of Latin America, in this hemisphere. During the summer it can arrive very quickly here in south Florida, in the whole state. In a very hot climate in summer, where mosquitos begin to spread very quickly, it's a very serious threat.
I really haven't had time to think about what I'm going to do as a professional attorney. There is no doubt that I am going to try to achieve something positive in the private sector. I think it's important.
The world is a safer and better place that the United States is the strongest military power on earth. The stronger you are, the less likelihood you'll ever have to use it.
Actually, I am asking for this: for something to be done. I think that if it had been one of the 50 states, something would have already been done. Unfortunately, you know, Puerto Rico is a territory. Very often they forget about Puerto Rico.
Conservatism means re-embracing true free enterprise. True free enterprise, which I believe and not because my parents were wealthy, not because I inherited millions of dollars because I did not, but because as I walked on to the stage here today, I walked through the kitchen of this hotel and I met people and shook the hands of people who are doing the jobs my parents once did.
I think what we need to do is understand our number one obligation is to act in the national interest of the United States of America. I believe it is in our national interest to see democracy take hold on the island of Cuba. And so we examine our foreign policy, including all the changes that President Obama made, in that lens and through that lens.
The key that opens that door is proving to the American public that illegal immigration is under control. And at this point, that argument cannot be made because it is not true, it is not under control.
I think crisis starts with the government of Puerto Rico. It has to take measures to solve the fiscal problems that it has, which are very serious. It's very basic: it's the same thing that is happening in Washington.
We need to ensure that our foreign policy towards Cuba incentivizes and makes it easier for there to be a democratic transition. That is how I would examine our foreign policy towards Cuba.
I haven't officially spoken in public about that issue, but I don't think it's a secret that Carlos [López-Cantera] has been a good friend of mine for many years. I respect him. I think he has done a great job as a state representative, as property appraiser in South Florida, and he's doing so now as lieutenant governor of Florida, and I think he would be a great senator, but I don't have an announcement for you today.
I think that the person who is going to be nominated will be nominated by the convention.
