Rand Paul said Jeb Bush’s attack on Marco Rubio for allegedly missing a third of Senate votes is fair game.
“We do get paid to do a job,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Thursday. “I think If you’re going to hold an office you ought to represent the people who pay you. If you’re going to accept pay, you ought to show up for work.”
Rubio has missed 34% of his votes in the Senate so far this year, according to GovTrack.
Former Florida Gov. Bush tried to score points in Wednesday night’s GOP debate by knocking Rubio on his record for missing Senate votes, but Rubio dismissed the attack as purely political.
Paul also discussed Thursday his plan to filibuster the bipartisan budget deal reached by the White House and congressional Republicans, setting up a fight between the presidential candidate and GOP leadership.
“I think this is what’s wrong with Washington — what I call the unholy alliance between the Right and the Left,” he said. “Neither of which seem to be too concerned with the deficit.”
Paul said there will be a test vote at 1 A.M. Friday and that he needs 40 other Senators join him to continue the debate. If 60 people vote to shut down debate, the filibuster will end, Paul said.
“For many Republicans this will be difficult, because this will be Republicans giving the President extraordinary power to borrow unlimited amounts of money,” he said. “I haven’t met a Republican anywhere outside of Washington who is for this deal, so the Republicans will be put on record tonight.”
“The real question is whether Republicans really are conservative or not or whether the problem in Washington is both party,” Paul added. “I tend to think that the Right and the Left are both part of the problem.”