Marco Rubio has been noncommittal on the Senate’s bipartisan immigration reform plan, which is a bit odd since he’s one of the senators writing it. In recent weeks, Rubio skipped the Gang of Eight’s field trip to the border, and released a statement just before his colleagues appeared on the Sunday shows, saying there was “no final agreement” on immigration. Now Politico reports that Rubio has decided to enthusiastically support the bill, and plans to pitch the proposal everywhere from political talk shows, to conservative radio, to Spanish-language news outlets — though that means the inevitable Rubio 2016 campaign will have to answer for it if the measure bombs.
A Senate Democratic aide said of the situation, “In poker terms, he has gone all in,” but that might be overstating it. Though the rest of the Gang of Eight plans to stay united in voting against amendments that would drastically change the bill, when asked if he would vote with the other seven senators, Rubio said, “I don’t think that is the game plan. I think the game plan is any amendments or any ideas that make the bill better that actually improve the product is something we would be open to.” But aside from doing what the other senators agree on and supporting them when it’s politically risky, he’s all about gang loyalty.
