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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRon Wyden and five other Democrats supporting the Freedom Act Filibuster
C-Span Feed - http://www.c-span.org/video/?326084-1/senator-rand-paul-rky-nsa-surveillance&live
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https://twitter.com/RonWyden
https://twitter.com/hashtag/EndThisDragnet?src=hash
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Wednesday crossed party lines to aid Sen. Rand Paul after the Kentucky Republican launched a filibuster-like effort aimed at blocking renewal of a law that has allowed the government to collect telephone data from millions of Americans.
Democrat Wyden and Paul have both vowed to do whatever they can to block renewal of the Patriot Act's surveillance provisions, which expire on June 1.
Paul, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, began talking at 1:18 p.m. with the intention of going through the night. Wyden, one of the Senate's staunchest critics of the government's surveillance programs, was the first senator to give Paul a breathing spell by taking to the floor to ask a series of lengthy questions.
Wyden told the Senate that he and Paul agree "it is a very dangerous world...but what doesn't make sense is to be pursuing approaches that don't make us safer and compromise our liberties."
Technically speaking, Paul was not conducting a filibuster. He actually took over the floor during debate over trade legislation. But he's attempting to use a filibuster-like technique to complicate efforts by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring up the Patriot Act for renewal instead of moving forward with a House-passed bill that would end the bulk collection of phone data.
http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2015/05/ron_wyden_aids_rand_pauls_fili.html
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)His "small govt" doesn't care about privacy between a woman and her doctor.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Speaking now
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Heinrich, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has criticized the NSA's bulk-records programs for several years.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Another Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), arrived to give Paul a break. He inveighed against the "unconstitutional" and "unnecessary" bulk collection of Americans' phone records. Manchin, a red-state Democrat who has frequently bucked the liberals in his own party, nonetheless aligned himself with Paul's civil-liberties mindset on surveillance, saying the two "agree more than we don't" on that subject.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)arrived to relieve Paul, after the Kentucky senator spent nearly half an hour reading from government reports that highlighted the ineffectiveness of the bulk-records program.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)saying that he wanted to see "real reforms to the Patriot Act," a law he said "violates law-abiding citizens' right to privacy." "We need to have a debate on what he Patriot Act is about, how it's being utilized, and how we need to move forward," Tester said, before yielding the floor back to Paul.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Come on ya'll!