In one of the most heated exchanges during the Republican Presidential Primary debate in Wisconsin Tuesday night, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) attacked Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) plan to significantly increase defense spending.
The pair went toe-to-toe over what Sen. Paul called an unpaid for “trillion dollar military expenditure,” prompting another conservative lawmaker to jump into the fray on social media.
Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, took to Twitter to knock the Florida Senator’s war mongering.
“For @marcorubio to lecture on foreign policy is laughable. He supported Obama’s illegal war in Libya and reckless arming of Syrian rebels,” Amash tweeted Tuesday night.
Rubio defended his Pentagon spending surge proposal by pointing to hostilities around the world.
“There are radical jihadists in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. The Chinese are taking over the South China Sea,” he claimed Tuesday night. “I believe the world is a safer — no, I don’t believe, I know — the world is a safer and better place when America is the strongest military power in the world,” Rubio added.
The exchange highlighted the rift in the Republican Party between military hawks like Rubio and deficit hawks like Paul.
“You cannot be a conservative if you’re going to keep promoting new programs you’re not going to pay for,” Paul told Rubio.
The Republican debate stage, ironically, may be the only place that Rubio is vulnerable to attack over his foreign policy positions. The Democratic front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also supported the war in Libya and endorses military intervention in Syria.
