U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul-all 2016 Republican presidential candidates-are at odds with one another over the recently passing USA Freedom ACT in the Senate.
Earlier this week, Paul irked Senate leadership and others like Rubio, for his moves to diminish the controversial surveillance program in the days leading up to the bills up or down vote.Rubio, who like Rand Paul, voted against the bill, stated that Paul was recklessly “spreading of misinformation” about the program a few days earlier, adding in a post vote statement that “the ‘USA Freedom Act’ weakens U.S. national security by outlawing the very programs our intelligence community and the FBI have used to protect us time and time again.”
The final vote tally was 67-23.
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Here is Rubio’s complete statement:
“Because the U.S. remains the freest nation on earth, we will always be targeted by those who attempt to exploit our society’s openness to further their twisted ideology. Unfortunately, weak presidential leadership combined with a politically motivated misinformation campaign have now left the American people less safe than we’ve been at any point since the 9/11 attacks.
“The failure to renew the expiring components of the PATRIOT Act was a mistake. The ‘USA Freedom Act’ weakens U.S. national security by outlawing the very programs our intelligence community and the FBI have used to protect us time and time again. A major challenge for the next president will be to fix the significantly weakened intelligence system that the current one is leaving behind.”
On the other hand, Ted Cruz, along with one of Rubio’s staunchest allies in the Senate, Utah Senator Mike Lee, voted in favor of the bill, saying that it was the “right policy,” and protected the “civil liberties of every American.
Here is Cruz’s Statement:
“The USA FREEDOM Act is the right policy approach. It protects the civil liberties of every American. It ends the federal government’s bulk collection of personal data from law-abiding citizens. And at the same time it ensures that we maintain the tools that are needed to target violent terrorists and prevent acts of terror. That’s why the House passed it overwhelmingly, and today the Senate passed it with a two-thirds majority. That’s why I’m proud to be one of the original cosponsors of this bipartisan legislation. The USA FREEDOM Act strikes the right balance between protecting our privacy rights and our national security interests, and I am pleased that today Congress has passed this bill and is sending it to the President’s desk.”
While Libertarians are not all that happy that some of the provisions that were left in the Freedom Act, the final bill could be exactly what Cruz said, “the right balance between protecting our privacy rights and our national security interests.”
With the threat of radical Islamist attacks against U.S. interests both domestically and abroad, it remains to be seen how Rubio’s “nay” vote, or Cruz’s “yea” vote will be received by Americans.Take the poll
