Rand Paul Strikes Again, Legality Of Government Surveillance On The Line

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul last night helped scupper hopes that provisions of the Patriot Act would be extended beyond their June 1 expiration date. Paul, together with democrats Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich, argued against any extensions, eventually causing Senate majority leader and proponent of extending the expiration date, Mitch McConnell, to give in and send the Senate home, The Guardian reports. The Senate will reconvene on May 31, only hours before the provisions expire.

Paul, a strong campaigner against government surveillance, filibustered for 10 hours on the issue on May 20. Not content with this, however, last night he helped keep the Senate busy until the early hours of this morning. He must be getting through a lot of coffee. Paul took to Twitter several hours before the session ended to say that he might be here for a while.

Will be seeing everyone overnight it seems. My filibuster continues to end NSA illegal spying.

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 23, 2015

Speaking after the session ended, Paul said he was proud of his actions and attempted to rally supporters to help kill off government surveillance.

The Senate has refused to reauthorize bulk data collection. I am proud to have stood up for the Bill of Rights. But our fight is not over

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 23, 2015

The Senate will return one week from Sunday. With your help we can end illegal NSA spying once and for all.

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 23, 2015

Along with rejecting an extension of the Patriot Act, the Senate also failed to reach the 60 vote majority needed to pass the USA Freedom Act, with the vote ending at 57-42. The proposed act was passed by the House of Representatives easily on May 13, with the final result coming in at 338-88, thanks to support from both parties. The act’s aim is to help prevent NSA surveillance, but some, including Rand Paul, argue that the act doesn’t go far enough. As The Hill points out, the bill extends the expiration date of Section 215 – which allows mass surveillance, and has let the government keep records of almost every landline phone call made in the United States – to 2019, and allows for even deeper levels of surveillance.

The White House is pressuring the Senate to pass the bill, with The Washington Times reporting that the White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, has harshly criticized the Senate’s position on the bill.

“We’ve got people in the United States Senate who are playing chicken with this,” he said, adding that it is “grossly irresponsible.”

The debate is far from a GOP vs White House scenario, however – it is more of a stalemate. Many Republicans are strong supporters of the Patriot Act, with Rand Paul being a thorn in the side of more senior members. Paul’s stubbornness has worsened the relationship between Paul and former Presidential nominee John McCain, with McCain speaking angrily on Paul’s stalling of the Patriot Act’s extension, according to the National Journal.

“There’s a new breed in the Senate and we have seen the manifestation of it, of people who are willing to, one or two or three, are willing to stand up against the will of the majority, some time ago the Senate could sit down and try and work things out.”

Supporters of the Patriot Act argue that without it, national security would suffer, putting the nation at risk. Mitch McConnell has said that the USA Freedom Act is unproven and argues that the Patriot Act is needed to protect Americans, the Washington Post reports.

“At a moment of elevated threat, it would be a mistake to take from our intelligence community any of the valuable tools needed to build a complete picture of terrorist networks and their plans, the intelligence community needs these tools to protect Americans.”

Opponents of Paul have argued that he is exploiting the debate over surveillance, using it as a fundraising opportunity. McCain is quoted by the National Journal as saying that he’s sure Paul makes a good amount of money from his efforts, saying “I’m sure it’s a great revenue raiser.”

Regardless of the fact that the act wasn’t passed, it appears that government collection of phone records will end on June 1 anyway. Speaking to The Guardian, an administration source said that they had not sought re-authorization of the powers. It is unknown whether this will be a permanent end, or merely a stopgap in state surveillance.

What are your views on Rand Paul’s crusade against surveillance? Do you think this could help Paul win the Republican candidacy race?

[Photos by Win McNamee/Getty Images and Alex Wong/Getty Images]