Marco Rubio: Ted Cruz offers just 'tough talk' on ISIS terror threat

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Marco Rubio: Ted Cruz is just tough talk on ISIS

Marco Rubio doubles down on attack that Ted Cruz is weak on national security.

The morning after a presidential debate Tuesday, in which Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz repeatedly clashed, Rubio doubled down on his accusation that Cruz is offering nothing but 'tough talk' as a solution to the ISIS terror threat.

"All this tough talk, Ted stood up there and said, 'I am going to utterly destroy ISIS.' Anyone can say that. What are you going to do it with?" Senator Rubio said about Sen. Cruz Wednesday on America's Newsroom on Fox News Channel.

"When you support a budget like he does, that dramatically cuts defense spending, when you vote against every defense authorization bill ever presented before you – the bill that pays for the military, that funds our troops and the iron dome – how can you then stand there and say that, “I’m going to utterly destroy ISIS but I’m not going to pay for it or support what it will take to utterly destroy ISIS."

The presidential rivalry between both Cuban-American senators in their 40's is sure to continue as the first voting contest in February draws closer. On Tuesday, Rubio attacked Cruz on national security, particularly his decision to not support legislation that would provide more military funding.

During the debate, Cruz called for using "overwhelming air power" to destroy the Islamic State, while Rubio said airstrikes would have to be supplemented by ground troops, including American special operations forces. Rubio also attacked Cruz for voting in favor of legislation to replace the National Security Agency's bulk phone-records collection program with a more restrictive program passed in June.

"Right now, we do not have access today to phone records going back five years that are going to be deleted because of a law that he supported and he aligned himself with Barack Obama, the [American Civil Liberties Union], and every liberal group in America, that got rid of this program," Rubio said.

"We are at a time when we need more tools in our intelligence toolbox not less."

Contains some reporting by the Associated Press.

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