Patriots tune in; the Senate is now in session, Sen. Reid just spoke; slammed McConnell.
The Guardian has a liveblog here:http://www.theguardian.com/...
Harry Reid is now on the floor slamming Mitch McConnell for “not having a plan” and creating this crisis via a strategy of brinksmanship.
Reid says “I’m a little bit flummoxed” by McConnell’s plans or lack thereof. While he is insisting that extension of some of the Patriot Act’s powers are “vitally important,” he’s not taking any shots at Rand Paul. Reid says “I disagree with the junior senator from Kentucky but we’re not in the mess we’re in today because of the junior senator from Kentucky, we’re in the mess that we’re in today because of the Majority Leader.”
Oops CIA quote by Reid, scare us into submission!
You can livestream here:http://www.c-span.org/
Speaker John Boehner issued a statement this afternoon urging the Senate to pass the USA Freedom Act.
Boehner said ““Al Qaeda, ISIL and other terrorists around the globe continue to plot attacks on America and our allies. Anyone who is satisfied with letting this critical intelligence capability go dark isn’t taking the terrorist threat seriously. I’d urge the Senate to pass the bipartisan USA Freedom Act, and do so expeditiously.”
The Speaker of the House has played his own understated role in this debate. By refusing to call his chamber back into session before Monday, he’s made things much more difficult for Senate Republicans by greatly limiting their options as any compromise besides USA Freedom would require a vote in the House.
The leading Republican behind a Senate effort to rein in the National Security Agency (NSA) said on Sunday that he expected to have the 60 votes necessary to advance his bill later in the afternoon.
At the same time, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) acknowledged that Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) pledge to “force an expiration” of parts of the Patriot Act may delay the final passage until later in the week — after the three provisions expire.
“I do believe we have the votes,” Lee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“At this point, I think is not about whether we get this passed but when,” he added. “It’ll happen either tonight or it’ll happen on Wednesday, or somewhere within that 72 hour window.”http://thehill.com/...
Rand Paul’s presidential campaign is still ferociously fundraising over the NSA debate in the Senate.
His campaign sent out a fundraising email with the subject line “I’m forcing the Patriot Act to expire”
Let the damn Patriot Act provisions expire!
1:42 PM PT:
2:20 PM PT: If you were expecting a quiet night, it’s not going to happen.
Rand Paul is channelling Howard Beale by proclaiming “I’m not going to take it any more” in going after what he calls “Barack Obama’s illegal government surveillance.” This is after a somewhat heated exchange with John McCain on the floor.
The Senate galleries are filling up too with even more spectators in “Stand With Rand” t-shirts., The Guardian
2:31 PM PT:
2:40 PM PT: According to The Guardian: "Republicans are now holding a closed meeting to discuss next step forward and momentum seems to be building around taking the USA Freedom Act as is."
3:21 PM PT: Senate back: McConnell speaking now, throwing bs at Snowden.
Also saying "the content of calls are not gotten."
3:31 PM PT: Roll call vote on cloture on USA Freedom Act happening...
3:48 PM PT: Cloture passes
4:10 PM PT: Sen. Paul speaking now on USA Freedom Act
4:18 PM PT: Sen. Paul, "We now use parts of the Patriot Act, 99 percent of the time on domestic crimes."
4:29 PM PT: