'This Week' Transcript: Sen. Marco Rubio; Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush

June 16, 2013— -- A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday morning, June 16, 2013 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

KARL: Good morning, and welcome to This Week. Crossing the red line, President Obama signs off on arms to the Syrian rebels.

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PAUL: I want to know what the end game is.

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KARL: Is he going too far?

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MCCAIN: Just to provide additional weapons is not enough.

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KARL: Or is it too little, too late. And?

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OBAMA: Congress needs to act. And that moment is now.

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KARL: The battle over immigration reform. Will it pass? This morning, a key player in both debates, Senator Marco Rubio, a This Week exclusive. Then, all of the weeks politics.

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ALEXANDER: We aren't trying to hide it. We're trying to protect America.

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KARL: More scrutiny over surveillance. And?

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(CROWD CHANTING)

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KARL: Iran's surprising pick for president. Plus, another exclusive.

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BUSH: He's the best dad, and the best man I've ever met.

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KARL: Jeb Bush, in our Father's Day Sunday Spotlight.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Reporting from Washington, Jonathan Karl.

KARL: Hello again. George is off. It is great to have you with us. Is the U.S. about to get involved in yet another war in the Middle East? After determining that Syria's government did in fact use chemical weapons, crossing President Obama's red line, the White House has made a decision to send arms to the Syrian rebels. Many in Congress have been pushing for more action, including our first guest, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who joins us now from Miami. Good morning, Senator, and happy Father's Day.

RUBIO: Good morning, happy Father's Day to you and all your viewers.

KARL: Thank you. so you have been pushing for a long time for the U.S. to arm the rebels. Is this going to make a difference?

RUBIO: Well, let me just say that in politics or in foreign policy, timing matters. So these were options that were there for us a year and a half ago, before this thing kind of became this chaotic. It behooved us to kind of identify whether there were any elements there within Syria fighting against Assad that we could work with, reasonable people that wouldn't carry out human rights violations, and could be part of building a new Syria. We failed to do that. This president failed to do that.

So now your options are quite limited. Now the strongest groups fighting against Assad, unfortunately, are al Qaeda-linked elements. That doesn't mean that they all are, but it certainly -- this group has become the most organized, the best armed, the best equipped. Our options are now really narrower than they were a few months ago.

So look, I think we should continue to search to see if there are any elements fighting against Assad that are reasonable, that we can work with, that will respect human rights and hopefully build a new Syria. I just think it's a lot tougher now when you've got Hezbollah running around and Russia fully arming Syria, and Iran fully engaged in this as well. I think that the fact that it's taken this White House and this president so long to get a clear and concise policy on Syria has led us -- has left us with the worst possible scenario right now.