WASHINGTON — Senator Rand Paul says there’s nothing political about his attempts to kill the Patriot Act.
“I don’t think anybody questions my sincerity on this issue,” Paul told The Daily Caller Sunday as he entered the Senate for a rare weekend session.
TheDC had asked the presidential candidate to respond to criticism that the fight was nothing more than a “political stunt.”
Members of Congress are not happy about returning this weekend to vote on the National Security Agency reform legislation known as the USA Freedom Act before several provisions of the Patriot Act expire at midnight.
The bill was already delayed once by Paul, who filibustered the legislation due to a provision that allows the government to collect metadata on phone calls made by Americans.
“I am ready and willing to start the debate on how we fight terrorism without giving up our liberty,” Paul said in a statement released by his campaign. “Sometimes when the problem is big enough, you just have to start over. The tax code and our regulatory burdens are two good examples. Fighting against unconditional, illegal powers that take away our rights, taken by previous Congresses and administrations is just as important.”
“I’ve never seen such a manufactured crisis in my life,” Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy told The Daily Caller Sunday afternoon. “We could’ve passed the House bill last year. We had 58 votes for it. We could have passed it earlier this year. To end up like this is a failure of leadership.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid took to the floor and excoriated Republican leadership for not taking up the bill sooner.