May 20, 2015
By Sean Cockerham
...“There comes a time, (click here) there comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer,” Paul said as he began speaking. “That time is now and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts go unchallenged.”
It’s not technically a filibuster unless Paul keeps speaking beyond midnight, though, because Paul’s talkathon isn’t delaying anything in the Senate at this point. The Senate is wrapped up in trade bill but the next vote related to the bill isn’t scheduled until Thursday, and the Patriot Act reauthorization isn’t officially before the Senate.
Paul appears attempting to make a big political point, and by doing so is drawing important attention to himself. By promoting himself as the champion of civil liberatarians, Paul hopes he can invigorate his often-lagging presidential effort. And by remaining the center of Senate attention for hours, he gets a spotlight that other colleagues seeking the White House – Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and probably Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – are not getting.
The Senate is scheduled to break on Friday for a weeklong recess and key Patriot Act provisions are set to expire on June 1. The Senate has been wrapped up in debating a trade bill and Paul, a Republican who is running for president, complained at the start of his filibuster that there wasn’t going to be an opportunity to debate the Patriot Act and have votes on his proposed amendments, one of which would end to the mass collection of phone records.
“There needs to be a thorough and complete debate on whether or not we should allow government to collect all our phone records all the time,” Paul said....
By Sean Cockerham
...“There comes a time, (click here) there comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer,” Paul said as he began speaking. “That time is now and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts go unchallenged.”
It’s not technically a filibuster unless Paul keeps speaking beyond midnight, though, because Paul’s talkathon isn’t delaying anything in the Senate at this point. The Senate is wrapped up in trade bill but the next vote related to the bill isn’t scheduled until Thursday, and the Patriot Act reauthorization isn’t officially before the Senate.
Paul appears attempting to make a big political point, and by doing so is drawing important attention to himself. By promoting himself as the champion of civil liberatarians, Paul hopes he can invigorate his often-lagging presidential effort. And by remaining the center of Senate attention for hours, he gets a spotlight that other colleagues seeking the White House – Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and probably Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – are not getting.
The Senate is scheduled to break on Friday for a weeklong recess and key Patriot Act provisions are set to expire on June 1. The Senate has been wrapped up in debating a trade bill and Paul, a Republican who is running for president, complained at the start of his filibuster that there wasn’t going to be an opportunity to debate the Patriot Act and have votes on his proposed amendments, one of which would end to the mass collection of phone records.
“There needs to be a thorough and complete debate on whether or not we should allow government to collect all our phone records all the time,” Paul said....
