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Democratic senator diagnoses Ted Cruz with 'Obamaphobia'

New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez took a shot at his Republican colleague, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, for posing as a potential roadblock to immigration reform. 
Sen. Ted Cruz has a new supporter in Congress for his suggestion we \"abolish the IRS.\"  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Sen. Ted Cruz has a new supporter in Congress for his suggestion we \"abolish the IRS.\"

New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez took a shot at his Republican colleague, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, for posing as a potential roadblock to immigration reform. 

"I think he has Obamaphobia," Menendez said on Jansing & Co. Tuesday. "The reality is that it is the 'Gang of Eight' that came together—four Democrats, four Republicans—and said that we need a path to citizenship." 

In an interview published Monday, Cruz shifted blame onto the president saying "the biggest obstacle to passing common sense immigration reform is President Barack Obama."

"I think Ted Cruz is fixated on this issue and it's amazing to me representing a state like Texas that he doesn't understand that a pathway to citizenship is really what is desired," Menendez said.

Menendez, a member of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators behind immigration reform, also insisted he has the 60 votes needed to move past Tuesday's cloture vote in the Senate, moving the debate forward.

Watch the full interview with Sen. Menendez below: