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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., came under fire this week from presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for a vote against a National Security Agency reform bill last year.

CNN reported Thursday that Cruz said Paul stalled NSA reform efforts by voting against the bill. He described Paul, a Bowling Green resident, as a good friend but said his vote against the bill was unfortunate.

Ill tell you, (Sen.) Mike Lee and I were both deeply dismayed that it was our single best chance to end the bulk collection of metadata, Cruz said, according to CNN.

In November, Paul talked to the Daily News about his vote on bill, saying he was torn about it.

Paul said at the time that while the NSA reform bill sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would have done some good things, it would also have reauthorized some provisions of the Patriot Act through 2017. That act, Paul noted, is what allowed such collection of information to happen in the first place.

It was one of those situations where youre torn, he said. Cruz last week became the first major contender to officially announce his candidacy for president.

Paul is expected to announce his run Tuesday during a rally at the Galt House in Louisville. He has mostly stayed out of the media spotlight this week, declining to issue comments to some national media organizations about topics including Indianas religious freedom law and a nuclear deal with Iran, according to the Huffington Post.

Paul representatives said he is spending time with family and not doing media interviews this week, according to the Huffington Post.

While his social media platforms have also been relatively quiet, Paul retweeted a story Thursday from NationalJournal about supersecret smartphones used by the Defense Department. His account toutedwww.nationaljournal.com/tech/nsa-smartphone-pentagon-20150331 as a must read.

Cruz has had success in fundraising since his announcement. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Cruz has raised $4 million since launching his campaign. His campaign said 95 percent of contributions came in amounts of $100 or less.

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Paul draws fire from Cruz