Paul Ties Rubio to Dems

Sen. Rand Paul pushed back against attacks from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday, calling out his cooperation with Sen. Chuck Schumer on amnesty and linking his approach to combating ISIS to that of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Rubio charged on Monday that Paul’s push to overhaul the National Security Agency’s data collection strategy undermines U.S. intelligence. But Paul countered Tuesday by claiming Rubio shoved aside conservative principles and national security concerns in his zeal to pull off a victory on immigration reform in 2013.

“I would remind the country that Marco Rubio has opposed everything that we have tried to do to control our borders, to make it such that people can’t come in here to attack us under false pretenses,” Paul said Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” referencing current concerns that terrorists may be infiltrating the U.S. by posing as refugees.

Paul, of Kentucky, hit out at Rubio for the unholy alliance he forged with Schumer during the “Gang of Eight” negotiations, which sought to flesh out a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

“Rubio decided that his allegiance to Chuck Schumer was greater than his allegiance to conservative ideas,” Paul said, referencing the alleged secret agreement between the two to kill off any conservative amendments to the package — such as greater restrictions on visas issued to individuals from the Middle East and increased scrutiny to people coming from high-risk countries with jihadi movements.

“Now it’s coming back to bite Marco because, I think, he weakened our defenses by allowing people to come into our country without sufficient scrutiny,” Paul added.

Both Rubio and Paul are seeking the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Paul said Rubio’s tax strategy would help illegal immigrants.

“I think Marco Rubio’s tax credit plan will extend more tax credits to illegal aliens,” he said. “There’s no way we should support this.”

“I think Rubio and Obama and Hillary Clinton are very similar,” Paul said.

Paul also attacked Rubio’s hawkish strategy to send ground troops to the Middle East to fight ISIS, calling him a neocon along the same line as Clinton and saying his proposal is out of line with the desires of the American people.

“I think Rubio and Obama and Hillary Clinton are very similar,” Paul said. “Rubio and Hillary Clinton supported the war in Libya. They’ve all supported arming the allies of Al-Qaeda and Syria. I’ve really opposed Rubio and Hillary Clinton and Obama on all of this.”

Paul added that he supports air strikes and aiding the Kurds in their fight against ISIS, but he insisted that lasting peace can only be achieved if Sunni Muslims in the region defeat the jihadis.

Also, continuing a theme he successfully hit on in the most recent GOP debate, Paul criticized Rubio’s fiscally profligate proposals to borrow money to finance greater military spending.

“He has only introduced increases in military spending that are not offset by cuts in other spending,” Paul said. “I just think that’s fiscally irresponsible, and I think that’s actually what the liberals have always done.”