Senate passage of the debt ceiling illustrates an emerging "freedom caucus" among congressional Republicans that divides lawmakers who stick by the promises they made to voters and "guys like Mitch McConnell" who have broken faith, FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe charged Thursday.
The Republican leadership is "just rubber-stamping an increase in the debt ceiling," Kibbe told John Bachman on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV.
"There's emerging a broader freedom caucus in the House and the Senate Republican GOP and you see that dividing line and it's important that people understand that it was Republicans who ran in 2010, including the Republican leadership, that made certain promises to the American people and they have backed away from those promises now in sort of a stark way," Kibbe said.
"That's a loss for all Americans, but it's also drawing a line in the sand between those who come to Washington and do what they said they were going to do, let's suggest [Republican Sen.] Ted Cruz is one of those guys, and guys like [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell who have talked a good game, but have never acted the way they promised that they would."
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Kibbe also lashed out at Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn for not standing up for conservative issues. The FreedomWorks president said his group is closely watching the Texas primary where Steve Stockman is challenging Cornyn.
"We're waiting to see how that primary works out because there's other challengers to John Cornyn as well," he said.
"On things that really matter, like the TARP bailout, like the expansion of Medicare, like defunding Obamacare, [Cornyn's] not there and I've noticed a pattern over the years. There's a lot of conservatives that talk the talk, but on those few votes that really, really matter, John Cornyn hasn't been there."
Kibbe blasted President Obama as well for his defense of the
possible targeting of U.S. citizens on foreign soil by drones without due process.
"It's fascinating to watch the evolution of this administration's positions on what they have done and not done because it changes all of the time," he said. "The story continues to evolve as they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.... What the president has said, so far, is utterly unsatisfactory."
Kibbe, whose group was a part of a
class-action lawsuit filed in Washington Wednesday challenging President Obama and the National Security Agency over its phone data collection
, said the trolling violated the Fourth Amendment protections to privacy and to undue search and seizure.
"There's no evidence that this has worked to stop a single crime by a single individual and that's the bottom line," he said. "In terms of our Fourth Amendment rights, it's wrong. In terms of its actual use, it's not that useful."
"Every American should be shocked and appalled that any government, whether it be the Obama government or the Bush government, is trampling on their basic civil liberties," he said. "This is one of those places where we can stand shoulder to shoulder with the ACLU, with progressives, as well as with conservatives, with tea partiers, with constitutionalists."
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