“I feel that Marco Rubio should be sued to pay back all the money that the federal government paid him while he was off playing around, running for president,” Harry Reid said. | AP Photo Reid: Taxpayers should sue Rubio for truancy

U.S. taxpayers should sue Sen. Marco Rubio to retrieve back pay for his absence during his presidential run, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday in his latest swipe at the Florida senator who announced last week he's running for reelection.

“I feel that Marco Rubio should be sued to pay back all the money that the federal government paid him while he was off playing around, running for president,” Reid told reporters. “Not only did he take those checks, cash every one of them, every month, he was never here and the state of Florida was missing a senator during that period of time.”


Reid added: “So Marco Rubio, in my opinion, owes the American taxpayer money and owes the people of the state of Florida some time.”

The Florida senator last week ditched his plans to retire from the Senate if he didn't win the White House. Though he has been active in Senate work since ending his presidential bid, Rubio’s absence from his day job became an issue during his 2016 run.

He also missed a Foreign Relations Committee meeting as he was announcing his reelection bid.

Of course, absenteeism among senators running for president isn’t relegated to just Republicans. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who ran for the Democratic nomination and still hasn’t conceded the race, returned for a series of gun votes last week. But those were his first votes since January.

Rubio faces an Aug. 30 primary against wealthy businessman Carlos Beruff. Democrats vying to take out Rubio include Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), who is backed by Reid and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.).

A Rubio spokesman dismissed the criticism: "No one in Florida cares about Harry Reid's ramblings, and we don't recall him making this argument about Barack Obama when he missed 64 percent of votes while running for president in 2008, Hillary Clinton who missed 68 percent in 2008, or Bernie Sanders who until last week hadn't voted since January."