Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been criticized for all the votes he has missed while running for president, but it appears there's a good reason for that: Rubio really doesn't like the Senate.
The Washington Post reports that the freshman Republican is used to action, and there isn't a lot of that in the Senate.
George Washington said the upper chamber's intention is to "cool" House legislation much like a saucer cools hot tea.
But that's not much to Rubio's liking, the Post reports. His political career has been spent getting things done, and he's had little success on that front since he took office in 2011.
In his first year, his debt-cutting measure was killed by Democrats while Republicans killed his immigration reform plans. Both parties killed his AGREE Act.
"Do we just stand around and do nothing? Or do we actually begin to act?" Rubio said from the Senate floor 10 months into the job.
After years of trying and being stymied, Rubio has thrown in the towel.
"He hates it," one of Rubio's longtime Florida friends told the Post.
Unlike Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Rubio didn't even bother trying to seek re-election to his Senate seat – he's going for the White House or bust.
Just this past week, Rubio gave a floor speech touting his bill that would give the Veterans Administration more power to fire underperforming employees. It needed unanimous consent for quick passage.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, prevented that when he objected that the bill didn't allow due process for workers.
"Unfortunately, we will not be able to move forward on this today, it appears," Rubio said.
When asked by the Post if he would have run for re-election to his Senate seat if he wasn't running for president, Rubio didn't sound enthused about the prospect.
"I don't know," he said.
"For two years, we just tried to slow-dance, and wait for the 2012 election," Rubio said. "And then, when that didn't work out, we spent two years trying to position ourselves for "14."
Despite winning a majority in the Senate, it wasn't enough to stop Democratic filibusters.
"Now it's [2015], and the argument is, 'We've gotta wait to elect the president,'' he said.
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