Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday embarked on the so-called filibuster of pending Senate legislation that would renew a controversial domestic surveillance program run by the National Security Agency.
The Kentucky senator who is also running for president in 2016 began speaking on the Senate floor around 1:30 p.m., and while it’s not clear how long he plans to talk, aides suggested that he could be on the floor for a long, long time.
“He will speak until he can no longer speak,” one aide told the Washington Examiner.
Paul announced his filibuster on Twitter.
I’ve just taken the senate floor to begin a filibuster of the Patriot Act renewal. It’s time to end the NSA spying!
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 20, 2015
He opposes renewing a section of the Patriot Act that allows the NSA to collect domestic electronic and telephone data in bulk. Paul said he also has “concerns” about bill that would reform the NSA program by eliminating bulk data collection.
The NSA reform bill would allow the NSA to retrieve the information from the telecommunications companies.
Both bills are slated for a vote in the Senate this week.
“I think you can have security and freedom at the same time, but if we’re not careful, this is going to get away from us,” Paul said on the floor.
Paul has already proven he has the stamina for lengthy floor speeches. He spoke for 12 hours on the Senate floor in March of 2013 in an effort to get the Obama administration to clarify its position on domestic drone strikes. His filibuster held up the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan.
