Rubio And Cruz clash with their Senate Colleagues

Republican senators find themselves being pulled into the escalating feud between two first-termers running for president. After a heated debate in Las Vegas, both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz looked for back up on the issues they’d clashed over. A string of rebukes and recriminations yesterday underscore the extent to which the Republican civil war rages on within the once-august upper chamber.

On immigration:

• John McCain, who was part of the Gang of Eight with Rubio, slammed Cruz for trying to present poison pills as constructive amendments. He told Paul Kane yesterday that Cruz’s current rhetoric does not match his positions two years ago. “The fact is that Cruz had proposed an amendment to expand H-1B’s. That’s not in keeping with what he’s saying now,” said the Arizona senator, who has frequently clashed with Cruz. “It’s remarkable. It’s remarkable!”
• But, as Cruz himself on the defensive over the issue during a Fox News interview,Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) vigorously defended the Texan. “It was a very decisive, historic vote, and Cruz was a valuable and articulate opponent, and Marco was an articulate proponent,” Sessions said.

On national security:

• Richard Burr stepped in it when he told reporters that Senate Intelligence Committee staffers were looking into whether Cruz shared classified information during the debate. Cruz’s campaign pointed to news clips that included the information in question, and the North Carolina senator — not exactly a friend of Cruz’s — released a statement later in the afternoon walking back his comments and insisting that there was no investigation. That should make for some awkwardness in the cloak room…
• Meanwhile, Utah Sen. Mike Lee called into Boston Herald Radio, widely listened to in New Hampshire, to rip Rubio for saying that the USA Freedom Act makes America less safe. “It simply is not true, and look, I’m really good friends with both of these guys, I really like both of them, but Marco’s wrong on this,” said Lee, who cosponsored the bill in question, according to BuzzFeed. “He’s just dead wrong!”

Between the shutdown and other legislative maneuvering, Cruz has alienated many of his Republican colleagues during his three years in the Senate. Though he has a handful of allies, including Sessions and Lee, none has endorsed him. Marco Rubio has the backing of three senators: Colorado’s Cory Gardner, Idaho’s Jim Risch and Montana’s Steve Daines.

“I don’t think six months ago anybody would have thought that Ted Cruz was mainstream,” said Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who backs Jeb Bush. “Donald Trump has made Cruz mainstream.”

— Quoting a Latino conservative, the New York Times gives the Rubio-Cruz battle a name:“the yuca primary,” referring to the popular Cuban staple and an acronym for young urban Cuban-American.

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