Marco Rubio Defends Himself on Senate Floor Against Tea Party Attacks (Video)

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) defended himself on the Senate floor today against conservative Tea Party attacks.
Via The Blaze:

Marco also released this statement on his website.

Dear Friends,

Over the last few days, I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and Tea Party activists from across the country regarding immigration. Their opinions really matter to me because they were with me three years ago when so many people here in Washington – and in Florida – thought I had no chance to win my election.

These people are patriots. They are everyday Americans from all walks of life who are deeply concerned about the direction our country is headed. And they are increasingly unhappy about the immigration reform proposal in the Senate.

It’s not because they are “anti-immigrant” as some on the left like to say. It’s not because they are close-minded. They believe, as I do, that as a sovereign country we have a right to secure our borders. That we have a right to have immigration laws and to enforce them. And they are increasingly opposed to this effort because, for over three decades and despite many promises to enforce the law, the federal government under both Republicans and Democrats has failed to do so.

In the end, it’s not just immigration reform itself that worries them, it’s the government that has failed them so many times before. They realize we have a legal immigration system that needs to be reformed. They realize we have over 11 million people currently living in the country illegally, and we have to deal with them. Yet they simply believe that no matter what law we pass, we cannot trust the federal government to ever actually enforce it.

This sentiment was best summed up for me in an email I received from Sharon Calvert, a prominent Tea Party leader in Tampa, Florida who wrote:

“Today, June 2013, we are in a very different political climate than we were even after the last election. We are in a political climate of distrust. Distrust of government and elected representatives is at its highest.”

She goes on to say, “Do we want to trust this administration to faithfully enforce a bill to the best interests of all Americans with a bill that few have read?”…

Read the rest here.

Marco Rubio’s favorability ratings AMONG REPUBLICANS has slipped to 58% since he led the charge for immigration reform earlier this year.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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