Florida U.S. senator Marco Rubio says debt ceiling is showdown time on runaway spending

Florida Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is leading the charge on a showdown over the runaway national debt.

He sat down with NewsChannel Five reporter Michael Williams Friday in West Palm Beach.

Rubio said he will not vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling in the coming weeks or months without guarantees on how to reduce $14.3 trillion in red ink.

Rubio argued, "It has to be the absolute last time we ever do it. It has to come accompanied with things like tax reform, like getting regulatory agencies off our back. It has to come with a (federal) balanced budget amendment. It has to come with spending caps."

That is a big list but Rubio says it is the only way he'd vote to raise the national debt ceiling. Critics say Republicans threaten a global financial crisis with such talk. Rubio responded, "Simply raising the debt limit also risks a global financial crisis."

Williams talked at length with Florida's junior U.S. Senator--the new darling of the Republican Party--and will have much more on what he is saying about everything from the debt and the future of Social Security to the crisis in Libya.  Join us at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on NewsChannel Five for our interview with Marco Rubio.