Rep. Darrell Issa endorses Marco Rubio

Issa, former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox News’ Steve Doocy that Rubio won him over with his fight against Obamacare and his willingness to take on national security issues directly.

“Marco Rubio really is an exciting candidate, and I’m pleased to be able to endorse him, to work for him for the presidency,” Issa told the “Fox and Friends” host.

“He’s been fighting some of the same fights,” Issa said. “He saved us money on Obamacare where some have wanted to repeal it. He’s already saved $2.5 billion by eliminating an unreasonable backstop by the taxpayers for failed programs.

“He’s been fighting for a lot of things I believe in, and, look, he’s not afraid to engage in the hottest subjects, and that’s important because the next president’s going to have to fix a lot of broken things, including our foreign policy,” Issa argued.

An issue of contention between the 2016 hopeful and Issa, as Doocy pointed out, is the NSA’s bulk data collection. The policy expired Sunday as part of the USA Freedom Act, which replaced the Patriot Act. Rubio has been a consistent critic of the new program and specifically of Sen. Ted Cruz’s support of it, while Issa backed he expiration of bulk data collection.

“This has been hotly debated, and I had the distinct displeasure of being here on Sept. 11,” Issa said. “I voted for the Patriot Act … and I voted for the USA Freedom Act because we saw abuses by this administration in that bulk collection. It was never in the [Patriot] Act. I think the compromise we have now is going to work. Some have their doubts, including Sen. Rubio, but I believe it will.”

Issa became the 10th congressional member to announce support of the Florida senator over the past month. Other supporters include Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner and Utah Rep. Mia Love, who gave Rubio her endorsement right before Thanksgiving.

Rubio sits third in the Washington Examiner‘s latest power rankings.