"I think just because you're a member of a political party doesn't mean you agree 100 percent. ...So I would disagree with that statement and I dare say if you asked each one of the members up here, what they would feel about that, they would say the same thing," Cornyn told reporters during a press conference, referring to several other GOP senators standing beside him.

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In 2006, Moore took issue with Ellison becoming the first Muslim elected to Congress, arguing that lawmakers can and should stop him from taking his oath of office.

”Enough evidence exists for Congress to question Ellison’s qualifications to be a member of Congress as well as his commitment to the Constitution in view of his apparent determination to embrace the Quran and an Islamic philosophy directly contrary to the principles of the Constitution," Moore wrote at the time

He added that "in 1943, we would never have allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on 'Mein Kampf,' or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the 'Communist Manifesto."