Paul is ready to rattle Obama's Cage Sunday
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 6:25 am
Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul said he’s ready for a “spying showdown” when the Senate holds a rare Sunday session, a sign he isn’t relenting in his fight against renewing anti-terrorism programs set to expire Monday.
Paul, of Kentucky, asked supporters in an e-mail Friday to join him in opposing National Security Agency spying. Three surveillance provisions of the USA Patriot Act are set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Monday. Like any U.S. senator Paul has the ability to tie the chamber in procedural knots.
“We fought a revolution over this,” Paul told a Republican Party meeting Friday in Rock Hill, South Carolina. “John Adams said that the spark that led to the American Revolution was James Otis’ fight against general warrants,” Paul said, referring to the colonial Massachusetts lawyer credited with popularizing the phrase, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
President Barack Obama’s administration warns that failing to renew the spying measures will put the U.S. at risk for terrorist attacks.
“I don’t want us to be in a situation in which for a certain period of time, those authorities go away and suddenly we’re dark,” Obama said. “Heaven forbid we’ve got a problem where we could’ve prevented a terrorist attack or apprehended someone who was engaged in dangerous activity but we didn’t do so simply because of inaction in the Senate.”
The bill, passed by the House 338-88 on May 13, would require the NSA to get court warrants to obtain individual phone records held by telecommunication companies.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-29/paul-seeks-spying-showdown-in-sunday-senate-meeting-on-nsa
Paul, of Kentucky, asked supporters in an e-mail Friday to join him in opposing National Security Agency spying. Three surveillance provisions of the USA Patriot Act are set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Monday. Like any U.S. senator Paul has the ability to tie the chamber in procedural knots.
“We fought a revolution over this,” Paul told a Republican Party meeting Friday in Rock Hill, South Carolina. “John Adams said that the spark that led to the American Revolution was James Otis’ fight against general warrants,” Paul said, referring to the colonial Massachusetts lawyer credited with popularizing the phrase, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
President Barack Obama’s administration warns that failing to renew the spying measures will put the U.S. at risk for terrorist attacks.
“I don’t want us to be in a situation in which for a certain period of time, those authorities go away and suddenly we’re dark,” Obama said. “Heaven forbid we’ve got a problem where we could’ve prevented a terrorist attack or apprehended someone who was engaged in dangerous activity but we didn’t do so simply because of inaction in the Senate.”
The bill, passed by the House 338-88 on May 13, would require the NSA to get court warrants to obtain individual phone records held by telecommunication companies.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-29/paul-seeks-spying-showdown-in-sunday-senate-meeting-on-nsa