On Wednesday, the House of Representatives rebuked both the White House and the House Republican leadership as a majority of House Democrats joined with 26 insurgent Republicans to defeat the extension of highly controversial provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. Because the vote was moved to the floor under suspension rules, the extension was killed because it lacked a 2/3 majority. The House is expected to once again begin debate on the measure as early as today, with the extension expected to pass with a simple majority in favor.
The legislation will then move on to the Senate, which has to pass the three controversial "provisions that would be extended by the bill" which are currently set to expire on February 28. While the PATRIOT Act has had strong bipartisan backing since its inception, it has primarily been Democrats who have pushed to amend the legislation to make it less harmful to civil liberties. Now, one newly-elected prominent GOP senator is breaking with his party and announcing that he will vote against any extension of the bill.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has posted a seven minute long video on his Senate YouTube account announcing that he plans to vote against extending the bill, explaining that his view is that the Founders of the country would have opposed it as well. Citing the Bill of Rights and Thomas Jefferson, Paul said he does not "wish to unchain government from the bindings of the Constitution." He concluded that he thinks it is about time that "Congress took a serious look at our obligations to stand up for the rights of those we are supposed to represent, rather than casting the politically easy votes":
rest at http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/10/rand-paul-patriot-act/
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