Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) addressed the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.
"I believe that America's finest hour is still ahead of us," Scott told attendees of the annual conservative gathering, taking place at National Harbor near Washington, D.C.
Watch part of Scott's speech above, and click here for more on his address.
Below, a liveblog of the latest updates from CPAC:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) accused President Barack Obama of endangering the public as a political strategy by releasing undocumented immigrants from detention ahead of sequestration budget cuts.
"This president's posture, it'd be laughable if he hadn't taken it one step too far, dangerously releasing criminals onto our streets to make a political point," he said at CPAC. "When you have a federally-sponsored jailbreak -- and don't get confused, that's exactly what that is -- when you've had a federally-sponsored jailbreak, you've crossed the line from politics of spin to politics as a craven form of cynicism."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in late February that its agents had released "several hundred" people from detention, citing concerns over the budget. Earlier Thursday, ICE officials acknowledged that more than 2,000 people were released in the final three weeks of February. Those let out of detention were still kept in deportation proceedings.
The White House and even Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano denied involvement in the decision, and said it came from career officials who were concerned about looming budget cuts.
-- Elise Foley
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@ emilyrs :
Wow. Perry laments what could have been if the GOP had "nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012"... ouch. #cpac
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@ CPACnews :
"Apparently only those who contribute $500 thousand or more can tour the White House" @TeamRickPerry #CPAC2013
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@ eramshaw :
Perry says "allies in conservative movement have folded in the face of federal bribery" and accepted Medicaid expansion #cpac
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@ zachdcarter :
First Rick Perry #CPAC gaffe: "Our deficit is approximately equal to our GDP." Probably meant debt.
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@ becca_aa :
@GovernorPerry at #CPAC "If we had a parttime Congress in Washington would they really get less done?"
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@ emilyrs :
Perry: "We're getting a lot of hysteria right now" from Obama #cpac
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(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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@ zachdcarter :
Big applause for Rick Perry #CPAC entrance, accompanied by "God Bless Texas."
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(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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@ AaronBlakeWP :
Fact: This is the first #CPAC in years in which someone has not shouted a random "Ron Paul!" at least once an hour.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called for a new Republican Party in his speech at CPAC Thursday, a rebuke to the previous speaker, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who said the GOP did not need new ideas.
"The GOP of old has grown stale and moss covered. I don't think we need to name any names, do we?"
"The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. if we're going to have a Republican Party that can win, liberty needs to be the backbone of the GOP."
Minutes before, Rubio said, "We don't need a new idea. There is an idea: The idea is called America, and it still works."
Paul is the rock star of the moment coming off his 13-hour filibuster of CIA director nominee John Brennan in protest of President Barack Obama's civil liberties policies. "Stand With Rand" posters are everywhere at the convention, and conservative pols are being asked by interviewers whether they "stand with Rand."
In his speech, Paul introduced a slew of issues that Republicans don't normally talk about, or at least Republicans with 2016 ambitions.
"The president at one time respected civil liberties, but then he signed a law on indefinite detention."
"Ask the Facebook generation whether we should put a kid in jail for the nonviolent crime of drug use and you'll hear a resounding 'no'," he said to huge applause.
"Ask the Facebook generation if they want to bail out too-big-to-fail banks with their tax dollars and you'll hear a 'hell, no,'" he said.
Paul hit predictable conservative erogenous zones on balancing the budget, the sequester and waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
Still, he unleashed excitement as the party looks for a figure in the aftermath of the 2012 defeat.
"Now I was told I only get 10 measly minutes. But just in case I brought 13 hours of information," he said, with binders on tables next to him.
"Don't drone me, bro!" shouted a member of the crowd.
--Luke Johnson
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@ luke_johnson :
Benghazi panel seems to be the cue for everyone to go to lunch
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@ zachdcarter :
Rubio voiced social conservative hardlinerism; Rand Paul blasted debt, vowed to eliminate Dept of Ed. Sounding familiar. #CPAC
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) threw some social conservative red meat to CPAC-goers on Thursday in a rant against Democrats who criticize him and members of his party for opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
"Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot," he said, his words drowned out by cheers from the crowd as he talked about his belief in the protection of human life "at every stage of its development."
"The people who are actually closed-minded in American politics are the people who love to preach about the certainty of science with regards to our climate but ignore the absolute fact that science has proven that life begins at conception," he continued.
Rubio does not often speak so forcefully on social issues, but if there's any venue to do it, it's CPAC. His speech was wildly popular: he entered the stage to the first standing ovation of the day, and drew applause every time he took a sip of water. (He also made plenty of jokes about water, a nod to his awkward sip during a post-State of the Union speech.)
His CPAC remarks focused largely on economic issues, from lowering taxes to defunding Obamacare. He railed against China and other countries that criticize the United States. He noticeably did not mention immigration reform, an effort he is leading to chagrin from some conservatives.
Rubio concluded with a crowd-pleasing message praising the United States.
"As soon as I'm done speaking, I'll tell you what the criticism on the left is going to be," Rubio said. "Number one, he drank too much water. Number two: that he didn't offer any new ideas.
"And there's the fallacy of it. We don't need a new idea. There is an idea: the idea is called America, and it still works."
-- Elise Foley
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@ daveweigel :
Paul speech ends, panel on Benghazi begins. Crowd floods out of the room
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@ daveweigel :
cc Alice Cooper RT @pemalevy: Some serious applause for eliminating the department of education in Paul's budget. #cpac2013
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@ samsteinhp :
Rand Paul: "The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered"
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@ luke_johnson :
Rand Paul "Mr. President, maybe we could have cut the robotic squirrel before WH tours"
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@ mpoindc :
"I'm sorry I couldn't have lunch today," Rand Paul jokes of skipping the GOP conf w/ POTUS. "Maybe he'll see this on C-SPAN later today."
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@ samsteinhp :
CPAC attendees boo closing of WH tours and aid to Egypt, in that order
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@ elisefoley :
RT
@cam_joseph:
In whole of Rubio speech not a single mention of immigration #CPAC[/TD]
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@ BNPolitics :
Rand Paul: "My 13-hour filibuster was a message to the president: Good intentions are not enough." #CPAC
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@ samsteinhp :
"Don't drone me bro" -- screamed at rand paul by cpac attendee
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@ samsteinhp :
Rand Paul, like Mo Rivera, comes to the stage via enter sandman
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@ samsteinhp :
Rubio -- "We don't need new ideas. The idea is called America and it still works"
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@ MichaelMathes :
. @marcorubio sips water, CPAC claps. "Never in the history of the world has water been so popular," he quips.
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@ emilyrs :
Rubio says dealing with student loan debt should be a priority; notes he just paid his off last year w/book royalties #cpac
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@ ZekeJMiller :
Rubio: “Not everyone needs to go to a four year liberal arts college.”
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@ samsteinhp :
“Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way does not make me a bigot.” -- Rubio
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@ elisefoley :
One Direction AGAIN for Marco Rubio. He doesn't know he's beautiful either.
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@ KatrinaTrinko :
Rubio gets standing ovation at #cpac2013. First speaker to get that
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@ samsteinhp :
CPAC panelist begins his sentence with "with all due respect" #uhoh
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Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist told an enthusiastic CPAC crowd that his hardline stance on taxes is not an end in itself, but part of a larger effort to limit the scope of government and a key marketing strategy for the Republican Party.
"We branded the Republican Party as the party of not raising taxes -- branding is important," Norquist said, drawing an analogy to Coca-Cola. People know what they're going to get when they buy a bottle of Coke, Norquist said, but if they find a rat's head in the bottom of the bottle, the company loses a customer for life. So it goes with taxes.
"Republican elected officials who vote for tax increases are rat heads in a Coke bottle," Norquist said. "They damage the Republican brand."
Norquist went on to praise the budget plan outlined by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Combined with his continued commitment to no tolerance on tax increases, Norquist's support for the Ryan budget -- which formed the core of Mitt Romney's economic platform during the 2012 campaign -- made clear that he sees little advantage to changing course on economic policy despite the GOP's November defeat.
-- Zach Carter
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@ marcorubio :
Looking forward to speaking at #CPAC2013 at 1:15p.m. #CPAC13
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@ vandongene :
Still ahead at #CPAC2013: the power hour! Back to back speeches from @marcorubio and @SenRandPaul #RedNationRising #Teaparty #tcot
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Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) gave a fairly dry speech exhorting the values of civil society, but at the end, he told a long story about visiting a salad bar in Southern Utah. He said he ate there over say, eating a hamburger, to impress his wife.
At the end of the bar, he found chocolate pudding. The pudding was rancid.
When Lee asked about the bad pudding, the worker said he wasn't working the salad bar. "I'm not on salad," he said, according to Lee.
To Lee, the story was an indication that Americans need to do more to form bonds in civil society.
"I invite each one of you to square your shoulders and be 'on salad,'" said Lee. "In that sense, we are all 'on salad.'"
-- Luke Johnson
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@ RightWingWatch :
Grover Norquist tells #CPAC2013 that Republicans who vote for tax increases are "rat heads in a Coke bottle."
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@ luke_johnson :
Scissor Sisters as #CPAC2013 intro music--who says gays aren't allowed?
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