Florida Sen. Marco Rubio missed two classified briefings on the Paris attacks Wednesday because he was raising money for his Republican presidential campaign in California, though staffers told Newsmax that he attended a Senate committee meeting on the assaults on Tuesday.
Rubio, who has been under fire for missing more than 100 votes in the last year, skipped a morning meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
The Tampa Bay Times reports.
The first-term senator also bypassed an afternoon briefing with Obama administration officials for all senators that was requested by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans.
A Rubio staffer told Newsmax that the senator had attended a Senate Intelligence Committee session regarding the attacks on Tuesday.
The fundraiser, to be held at a private home in Newport Beach, Calif., costs $2,700 per person or $5,400 per couple, according to an invitation posted with the Times story.
Rubio's absences have drawn attacks from other Republican candidates, with former Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush demanding that he either do his job or quit during the CNBC debate last month at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
As of Wednesday, the junior senator has missed 115 of 392 Senate floor since Nov. 19 of last year, according to
GovTrack.us.
He is the leading GOP candidate currently serving in Congress to skip votes.
Rubio has also missed several key committee hearings on foreign policy and national security, the Times reports, including:
- An intelligence briefing on the Islamic State and two other classified sessions in January because of fund-raising in California.
- A closed meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee in April because he was courting donors in Texas.
- A hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Mideast humanitarian crisis in September.
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