Posted on 05/22/2015 9:01:28 PM PDT by concernedcitizen76
Rand is still standing.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the libertarian firebrand and GOP presidential hopeful, isn’t showing any sign he’ll relent and allow speedier votes in the Senate on controversial government surveillance programs, as weary and recess-hungry senators trudged through a rare Friday session with a packed to-do list.
Paul said Friday that he hasn’t yet agreed to accelerate procedural votes — currently set for Saturday — on dueling proposals to renew expiring provisions in the PATRIOT Act. He had signaled that he might relent if he secured votes on privacy amendments, but shortly before 10 p.m. he said leadership wasn’t budging.
“We’re not quite at a point where they’ll agree to let us to have amendments,” Paul told reporters. “They’re going to have to either try to work with us or we’ll be here all weekend.”
Paul then hopped into a waiting car and took off into the night as the Senate prepared for 1 a.m. procedural votes on the PATRIOT Act.
The long list of demands from Paul, who held the Senate floor for nearly 11 hours this week railing against the PATRIOT Act, is unrealistic in the view of many of his colleagues.
“We’d like to end bulk collection, we’d like to end the backdoor 702 searches, we’d like to prevent the government from mandating to private companies that they have to give their source code up and give a backdoor entry into their products,” Paul said, ticking off his asks one by one. “We’d like to say that information gathered under a terrorist warrant that doesn’t have a constitutional standard could not be used to convict someone of a domestic crime. There’s evidence now the DEA is using sub-constitutional warrants for drug cases as well as IRS cases.”
Of course, Paul is far from the only obstacle preventing the Senate from resolving the thorny debate over the bulk collection programs. Senate Republicans are scrambling to reconcile vastly different views among their ranks over the Bush-era national security law, and a closed-door party meeting Friday didn’t appear to resolve how senators would deal with the provisions that are set to expire after May 31.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, the GOP’s chief vote-counter, said after the late afternoon huddle: “I think it’s fair to say there wasn’t a consensus.”
"FBI Admits It Hasn't Cracked a Single Terror Case with Patriot Act" May 22, 2015
Why aren't senate conservatives and Constitutionalists, if there are any left, standing with Sen. Paul to get rid of the Orwellian "Patriot" Act? This police-state law, passed in heat of passion with little to no debate or even reading of the Act by members, was not intended to catch terrorists (in 14 years the Patriot Act hasn't caught even one terrorist per FBI 05/22/2015). Rather, this subversive Act was intended to spy on, data mine, intimidate, chill, and control the whole of the US citizenry.
Obama loves the Patriot Act. He signed two extensions of it without any changes. Why? Rat McConnell loves it, too. Those points alone should be sufficient grounds for patriots to stand with Paul.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Good. HOpe he stands strong on this one.
I hope he holds all senators through the long Memorial Day weekend!
Spoil their plans!
I’ll send him money if he can do the: a comic wedgie.
He should have done this for the Trade Bill.
So do I. The Patriot Act turned the centuries old concept of innocent before proven guilty upside down. After Bush Jr signed the bill into law, an unforgiveable treason, every American citizen became de jure a suspect in eyes of the government. The modification of innocent citizen to citizen suspect was the justification for total surveillance and mass collection of citizens’ data without citizens’ consent.
LOLOLOLOL.
I wish I would have typed that!!!
Hope he doesn't stand alone.
It could be that the NSA/FBI have gathered enough files on the artificiel conservatives & Constitutionalists horrific behavior to Blackmail them to the darkside of the force.
Yes, it must be dreadfully tiring for those senators to be expected to work on a Friday, especially before a long weekend. Ever so much easier to just toss all that troublesome Bill of Rights nonsense in the hopper. They've got a barbecue to attend.
Id never vote for him but will give him his due here.
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