Sen. Rand Paul’s decision on Wednesday to speak for hours against legislation to renew a federal surveillance law has scrambled an already tight Senate agenda this week that includes a critical trade bill and a measure to extend highway funding.
Paul, a Kentucky Republican who is running for president, walked onto the Senate floor around 1:18 p.m. on Wednesday after tweeting his intention to begin an hours-long floor speech.
He continued his remarks through the evening hours and finished just before midnight, about 10 and a half hours later. He was helped by a steady stream of lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who spoke in support of Paul’s argument that the bulk collection of records by the National Security Agency must stop.
“There comes a time in the history of nations, when fear and complacency allows power to accumulate, and liberty and privacy to suffer,” Paul said. “That time is now.”
The Senate this week is scheduled to vote on a bill reauthorizing bulk data collection of domestic data, which is part of the anti-terrorism law known as the Patriot Act.
“I will not let the Patriot Act, the most un-patriotic of acts, go unchallenged,” Paul said.
Paul was joined on the Senate floor at various times by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Chris Coons, D-Del., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
The group denounced the data dragnet, citing vast opposition in the polls and a recent federal court ruling that the NSA’s bulk data collection is illegal.
“This is one of the issues I hear most about from my fellow Montanans,” Daines said. “We must maintain a balance between protecting our nation’s security while also maintaining our civil liberties and our constitutional rights.”
Paul was expected to end his filibuster by Thursday at the latest, so the Senate can vote on ending debate on a bill that would give President Obama expanded power to negotiate international trade deals.
While Paul’s comments ate up hours of time that could have been used to debate the trade bill, GOP leaders said they would not prevent the scheduled Thursday vote on ending debate on trade legislation, and would still allow time to vote on a list of more than half a dozen trade bill amendments.
The fact that the vote would not be bumped is one of several factors that led to a debate over whether Paul’s talk was technically a filibuster, or not. C-SPAN, for example, referred to the speech as “extended remarks.”
The Senate’s own glossary defines “filibuster” as an “informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length …”
Whatever its proper name, Paul’s move nonetheless complicated the GOP’s efforts to pass critical legislation before the Senate is scheduled to adjourn for a week-long recess.
“With the logjam Senator McConnell has created this week, any substantial delay at this point is significant and complicates the floor situation,” said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
In addition to trade legislation, the Senate is hoping to pass a two-month extension authorizing federal highway funding this week. The current law expires at the end of the month and without taking action, the nation’s critical infrastructure projects would grind to a halt.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was already threatening the possibility of working into the Memorial Day weekend to get everything done, and Paul’s talk could make that threat a reality if he still wants to finish bills on trade, highways and the NSA.
The NSA bill that Paul was opposing also faced a complicated path to passage. As of Wednesday, the Senate was expected to vote on a simple extension of the law, which is endorsed by Sen. McConnell and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Burr and McConnell believe bulk data collection is needed to ensure the NSA has the tools it needs to prevent domestic terrorism.
Lawmakers will also vote on a reform measure that would end the NSA’s bulk data collection and improve accountability and transparency in the NSA’s surveillance program. If neither bill can garner the necessary 60 votes, lawmakers will vote on a two-month extension of current law, but there may not be enough support to pass a short-term bill, either.
“If 41 Senators stick together, there isn’t going to be any short-term extension,” Wyden said on the Senate floor. “And finally, after something like eight years of working on this issue, finally we will be saying, no more bulk phone record collection.”
