Rubio only 2016 candidate to skip omnibus vote

Rubio, who started the day off on the campaign trail at a meet and greet in Dubuque, Iowa, skipped the vote only a day after he told Fox News Thursday that he could try and hasten the passage of the bill — which he opposed vocally — through procedural tactics.

While Rubio missed out on the vote, 2016 rival Ted Cruz, as well as fellow Sens. Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders all were in town for the vote. All of them, except for Graham, voted against the measure in the final Senate vote of the calendar year.

The Rubio campaign defended the 2016 hopeful missing the vote, saying in statement votes like this one “are why Marco is running for president.”

“Votes like Friday’s are why Marco is running for president. Leaders in Washington crafted this trillion dollar spending bill in secret, and unveiled it during the debate on Tuesday night. Marco had barely 48 hours to review over 2,000 pages of spending,” Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said. “Marco has consistently voted against those sorts of bills, but the truth is that it’s not going to change until we elect a new president. That’s why Marco is meeting voters in Iowa today.”

Meanwhile, Cruz panned the massive end-of-the-year bill, saying the vote for him was a “hell no” vote.

“This is what’s wrong with the Washington cartel,” Cruz said on “The John Fredericks Show.” “Republican leadership has proven to be the most Democratic leaders we have ever seen.” The Texas senator added that the bill “does not honor the promises we made to the men and women who elected us.”

Rubio received some incoming fire from the House for his missed votes, particularly from Rep. Justin Amash. Amash, a Paul supporter, tweeted that Rubio should worry more about “showing up for work today” than “selling wall calendars,” pointing to a tweet from Rubio promoting 2016 calendars as a holiday gift.