More missed votes, more criticism for Rubio

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has missed about a third of Senate floor votes this year (Mark Humphrey, AP)

Another week, another batch of missed votes for GOP presidential hopeful Marco Rubio.

And another round of criticism.

While he was on the campaign trail, the Florida senator missed five floor votes this week, including one Wednesday (when he was in New Hampshire) on final passage of the wide-ranging National Defense Authorization Act.

Rubio has missed about a third of all Senate floor votes this year, including more than half since June 1, a record of absenteeism that his GOP presidential rivals, notably Donald Trump, have excoriated him for

Rubio has defended his attendance record, most recently on NBC’s Today He said many past presidential candidates have missed votes (he’s right) and that much of the work of a senator is constituent service and committee work, “not walking on to the Senate floor and (voting) on a non-controversial issue.”

But there was a time when he put a premium on floor voting. As speaker of the Florida House in 2006, Rubio spent $550,000 in part to relocate the members-only dining room in the Capitol Building because he wanted more lawmakers to vote.

“During session, meals are served while we are in session, so at times you have more members in the back eating than out on the floor voting. So this year we are going to break for lunch so that members can eat and not worry about missing votes or having others vote for them,” Rubio was quoted in an email at the time defending the expenditure to the Florida Times-Union

Democrats are calling Rubio a hypocrite over the issue.

“Glad that Marco Rubio can change his tune so quickly when he is trying to give himself a promotion,” said Christina Freundlich, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee. “Marco Rubio’s answer on this issue is as absent as his voting record, and this is just another example of his failure to lead.”