The 2016 Republican nomination contest spilled onto the Senate floor Thursday, turning a marathon budget debate into a battle over which candidate is prepared to lead the country at a time of war.
Four GOP senators are trying to gain the upper hand on the commander-in-chief test — Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham — and their competition was on vivid display as the Senate took up a Rubio plan to pump tens of billions of dollars more into the Pentagon budget. Sen. Rand Paul blasted the idea because the new spending wasn’t offset by other cuts. And caught in the middle was Cruz, who’s pitching himself as a fiscal conservative who can appeal to the hawkish and libertarian wings of the GOP but ultimately sided with Rubio and Graham.
In an interview with POLITICO, Paul lambasted his foes for engaging in “reckless” and “irresponsible” behavior, showing that they lacked the “courage” and conviction to rein in the country’s mountain of debt. He said there are now two camps in the GOP primary field: One that cares about the debt, and another that does not.
“I think there are a great deal of problems for people who want to argue that they are fiscal conservatives and yet would simply borrow hundreds of billions of dollars for defense,” Paul said. “I think it is irresponsible and dangerous to the country to borrow so much money to add into defense.”
The tough words came in the aftermath of two votes that both failed Thursday, one proposed by Rubio that would raise defense spending — with no corresponding cuts — and another by Paul that would cut tens of billions from a range of different accounts.
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As the Rubio plan was moving forward, Cruz was clearly torn. The Texas senator stood quietly at the well of the Senate chamber for several tense minutes, reading the text of the Rubio amendment and checking his smartphone.
Finally, with his colleagues watching, Cruz gave a thumbs-up sign, siding with Rubio in the growing debate inside the party between fiscal hardliners and defense hawks that has dominated the GOP’s budget fight.
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The deliberations on defense spending were the latest sign of jockeying among the Republican senators running for the White House. They’re pushing proposals and casting votes to bolster their messages — and keeping a close eye on the others’ every move.
Rubio has increasingly pushed for a larger and more robust U.S. presence worldwide, aligning himself with the likes of a leading GOP defense hawk, Graham, who is also weighing a 2016 run.
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And then there’s Paul: As a libertarian-minded Republican who pushes for a less aggressive U.S. presence worldwide, his biggest hurdle as a national candidate is selling himself as a viable leader of the military.
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“I think it was irresponsible and dangerous … and an inconsistent theme for anybody who wants to say that they are concerned about the debt,” Paul said in the interview. “I think it shows a lack of concern about the debt. I think it was a very, very important vote to see the contrast of the two different approaches.”
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But Paul added: “I think if you want to add money to defense, the difficult vote is mine. And it shows that there is not a great deal of courage out there among people. They went the easy way. They want to keep borrowing it. And that is a great danger for our country.”
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More:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/0...et-116434.html
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Originally Posted by Anti Federalist
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