Harry Reid slams Rubio: At least Cruz 'has a set of values'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has more respect for Ted Cruz than for Marco Rubio.

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 3 March 2016

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) may be widely detested by his congressional colleagues, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (R-Nev.) says he'd still far prefer him to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Reid says that while he may disagree with the Texas senator, at least Cruz stands for something — as opposed to Rubio who "doesn't stand for anything," Reid says in an interview on Sirius XM's "The Agenda with Ari Rabin-Havt" set to air Thursday.

"I don’t like a lot of the things that he stands for, in fact, most everything he stands for," Reid says, according to a preview clip of the interview. "But I have some degree of respect for him because he believes in something. He has a set of values." Even in the case of the 17-day government shutdown, Reid says that "at least [Cruz] set out doing what he said he would do."

Rubio, Reid contends, is just "an opportunist first class." He specifically hits Rubio for walking back his support for the Gang of Eight immigration bill. "Here is a man who is part of a group of senators, a very, very small group of senators, who came up with something important for the country: comprehensive immigration reform. He was a part of it. He helped us pass it here in the Senate. And then he walks away from it," Reid said.