Rubio gave the speech before an audience of more than 200 local entrepreneurs in Chicago. Rubio slams Clinton, higher ed 'cartel' in policy speech

CHICAGO — Picking up on the generational themes of his announcement speech three months ago, Marco Rubio laid out an economic plan Tuesday that sought to distinguish himself as “a new president for a new age.”

Promising to usher in a “new American century” — his campaign’s forward-looking slogan — Rubio painted a picture of himself as a candidate in step with a new era and a fast-changing economy, promising to reform the Tax Code and modernize higher education to better align with how the 21st-century economy now works.


The much-publicized policy speech, before an audience of more than 200 local entrepreneurs, included direct attacks on Hillary Clinton as an “outdated” representative and implicitly dismissed one of his main GOP rivals, Jeb Bush, as a candidate of the past.

“New opportunities cannot be seized by old ideas, and the future must be embraced with enthusiasm and vision,” Rubio said.

By framing himself as the more youthful, future-oriented candidate against the 60-somethings, the first-term Florida senator sought to define Clinton and Bush as his main rivals while laying out his case against them — that, at 44 years old, he’s the one armed with new ideas and a deeper understanding of the challenges of modern college students and young entrepreneurs.

“For the first 15 ½ years of this century, Washington has looked to the past,” Rubio said. “Our economy has changed, but our economic policies have not. And we have learned, painfully, that the old ways no longer work.”

Balancing a gloomy characterization of an uncertain future with his own optimistic promise to help lay “the cornerstone for a new American century,” Rubio packaged a modest mix of policy proposals in lofty, sometimes forceful rhetoric.

But the ideas outlined in the speech weren’t new for Rubio, who has already laid out some of the proposals outlined Tuesday, including a proposal to dramatically lower the U.S. tax on companies’ foreign earnings.

Rubio used the speech as an opportunity to criticize Clinton’s economic policies, offering to bust regulations that “are the result of an alliance between Big Business and Big Government” in order to jump-start the economy.

“Hillary Clinton argues the economy is rigged in favor of wealthy interests — but what she won’t tell you is that Big Government is doing the rigging,” Rubio said. “A massive regulatory apparatus inevitably becomes the instrument of those with the lawyers and lobbyists necessary to influence it.”

At almost every point in his speech, Rubio sought to contrast his vision against Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee.

“The race for the future will never be won by going backward,” he said. “It will never be won by hopping in Hillary Clinton’s time machine to yesterday. She seems to believe pumping more of today’s money into yesterday’s programs will bring prosperity tomorrow. It will not. Nor will thinking small. Hiking the minimum wage by a few dollars will not save the American Dream; it will accelerate automation and outsourcing. Increasing taxes and regulations will not promote fairness or opportunity; it will snuff out innovation and crush small business.”

When he turned to higher education, Rubio again slammed Clinton and her ideas as “outdated” and “shortsighted,” and he called for breaking up the higher ed “cartel” — he promised a “holistic overhaul” of how colleges and universities control tuition and financial aid, offer instruction and provide degrees.

“Our higher education system is controlled by what amounts to a cartel of existing colleges and universities, which use their power over the accreditation process to block innovative, low-cost competitors from entering the market,” Rubio said.

“Within my first 100 days, I will bust this cartel by establishing a new accreditation process that welcomes low-cost, innovative providers. This would expose higher education to the market forces of choice and competition, which would prompt a revolution driven by the needs of students — just as the needs of consumers drive the progress of every other industry in our economy.”

Rubio, however, has come under fire for supporting a segment of the higher education system that some see as predatory — for-profit colleges. Last year, Rubio asked the Department of Education to show leniency to Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit college company that was forced to close down its campuses after the Obama administration accused it of lying about job placement rates.

In a question and answer session following the speech, which took place at 1871, a digital startup incubator inside the city’s old Merchandise Mart, Rubio explained that the old measures of economic stability such as the unemployment rate are no longer as indicative of the true state of the workforce because so many people are underemployed and others who have jobs continue to struggle with the skyrocketing cost of child care.

He also lamented that so many young people have graduated from college with student loan debt only to find that their degrees are misaligned with the kinds of jobs a rapidly changing economy is creating.

“All the things we once told people they needed to do to succeed no longer work,” Rubio said. “No one has explained why the old ways no longer work and what the new ways should be.”