Reid knocks Rubio over gun votes
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) knocked Sen. Marco Rubio’s voting record Monday, amid increasing speculation about whether the Florida Republican will run for reelection.
“How can the junior senator from Florida, who all the sudden is again interested in running for reelection, how can [he] speak of running for office again when he voted to let potential terrorists buy assault weapons and explosives? That is how he voted,” Reid said from the Senate floor.
{mosads}Rubio voted against a proposal late last year from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to block individuals on the terror watchlist from being able to buy guns. Republicans argued that the measure was too broad and would negatively impact Americans not tied to terrorism.
Instead Republicans, including Rubio, backed an alternative proposal from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that would have allowed the attorney general to delay suspected terrorists from getting a gun for up to 72 hours as they try to get a court to approve blocking the sale of the firearm.
Democrats, however, are pledging to force a vote on Feinstein’s proposal again in the wake of the Orlando, Fla., shooting in which a gunman killed 49 people in a packed gay nightclub. Another 53 people were injured.
Reid added Monday that Rubio had “better reconsider his gun votes. He voted against background checks, assault weapons ban, against legislation limiting the site of ammunition clips.”
Rubio — who is scheduled to retire at the end of his current term — has repeatedly denied that he will change course and run for reelection. But the Florida Republican told Hugh Hewitt on Monday that the shooting makes one think about “your service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country.”
Reid repeatedly criticized Rubio from the Senate floor while he was running for president over frequent missed votes.
Reid’s latest barb comes as the Florida senator sent a letter to President Obama on Monday, saying the federal government “should play its part in this response and suggest you expedite grants under the Anti-Terrorism and Emergency Assistance Program and any other appropriate authority.”
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