Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., squared off for a few awkward minutes in the CNN debate Wednesday when Graham said Santorum didn’t leave any kind of legacy in the Senate on immigration policy, which forced Santorum to admit it’s true his plan didn’t go anywhere.
Santorum, who has struggled to garner support for his second presidential bid, kicked off the discussion of immigration by saying workers “know that their wages are being undermined.”
Graham then quickly turned a question about birthright citizenship into an opportunity to criticize what he said was Santorum’s failure to get anything done on immigration.
“I like Rick, [but] I don’t remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate,” Graham said. “The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade.”
“He mentioned my name and that I didn’t have a plan,” Santorum replied. “The fact is, I did have a plan back in 2006 called the Comprehensive Border Security bill.”
“But what’re you going to do with the 11 million [illegal immigrants in the U.S.]?” Graham asked. “How many Democrats supported your plan? How many Democrats did you have on your bill?”
“I don’t know how many Democrats…” Santorum said. Graham said none did, and that Santorum’s bill “didn’t go anywhere.”
“Well, you’re right Lindsey, it didn’t,” Santorum responded with defeat.
Watch the entire exchange between the two Republican candidates in the video above.
