Rand Paul to take the floor Wednesday to contest drone policy - Live NOW on CSPAN2

[tsai3904]

Sen. Rand Paul intends to take the Senate floor Wednesday to contest the nomination of David J. Barron to be a federal appeals court judge, though it doesn’t appear the Kentucky Republican will halt Barron’s confirmation.

It’s unclear exactly how long Paul plans speak, but staffers around the Capitol are preparing for a late Wednesday session.

The government’s use of unmanned drones to target U.S. citizen is the same subject that prompted last year’s the #standwithrand filibuster of John O. Brennan’s nomination to be CIA director. Barron wrote memos justifying the Obama administration policy when he served as acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

“I rise today to oppose the nomination of anyone who would argue that the President has the power to kill American citizens not involved in combat,” Paul plans to say on Wednesday, according to an excerpt from his office. “I rise today to say that there is no legal precedent for killing American citizens not directly involved in combat and that any nominee who rubber stamps and grants such power to a President is not worthy of being placed one step away from the Supreme Court.”

The extended Paul floor speech won’t be a filibuster, really. In fact, the Senate may well have agreed to a time limit on the debate before he speaks.

...

More:
http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/rand-paul-to-take-the-floor-again-contest-drone-policy/


--


livestream on CSPAN2: http://www.c-span.org/live/?channel=c-span-2

 

[UtahApocalypse]

I wish he would filibuster. I mean don't back down to Reid. Once he has the floor keep going until your done, or the Capital Police pull him off the floor.

 

[CPUd]

They may not be able to stop a filibuster; not all the Democrats are on board with Barron, well they would probably vote to confirm, but might play around with the cloture vote.

 

[francisco]

I will be paying close attention to see how my Democratic Senators from Oregon, Merkeley and Wyden, vote. Merkeley is a knee-jerk progressive. Wyden used to be an authoritarian leftist but has been changing his spots in recent years and has worked with Rand on some things. Lately, Wyden has been skeptical of the intelligence and civil-liberty over-reaches of the administration--he was the one who famously asked the question that Clapper lied about, answering in open Senate testimony.

 

[Vanguard101]

He should tell repubs that this is a way to criticize Dems

 

[Unknownuser]

Looking forward to another lesson in American Liberty 101 from Randy! Like a boss!

 

[FriedChicken]

I'm very excited about this. Hope I'm not disappointed by some kind of block.
I really hope this means a talking filibuster - some have pointed out thats pretty much the only kind left for nominations. I hope Rand's staff realizes that if they work this up to and tell the media there's going to be a filibuster the expectations are going to be very, very, high.

 

[tsai3904]

I'm very excited about this. Hope I'm not disappointed by some kind of block.

Reid has already set the schedule for tomorrow and given the timing of votes, I think Rand will speak for about an hour.

http://democrats.senate.gov/2014/05/20/schedule-for-wednesday-may-21-2014/

 

[Brett85]

I think that speaking for an hour is better than a filibuster. I think that a filibuster loses its effectiveness when you start doing it repeatedly. I'm looking forward to Rand's speech.

 

[FriedChicken]

Reid has already set the schedule for tomorrow and given the timing of votes, I think Rand will speak for about an hour.

http://democrats.senate.gov/2014/05/20/schedule-for-wednesday-may-21-2014/

I'll admit in a heart beat that I don't understand many of the processes and rules of order for the senate and nominations. But I thought a filibuster was for as long as the person speaking could handle not giving up the floor?
As in ... once their on the floor nobody can do anything to make them stand down and they could theoretically talk until the second coming.

Or is this more like the Cruz filibuster? Where it wasn't one technically - just a speech given for the maximum amount of time allowed by the rules for the specific situation.

 

[FriedChicken]

I think that speaking for an hour is better than a filibuster. I think that a filibuster loses its effectiveness when you start doing it repeatedly. I'm looking forward to Rand's speech.

I agree but it has been quite some time since the last one and I doubt a 1 hour speech will do hardly anything to put pressure on people to reconsider giving Barron the nomination.
If it were a full fledged filibuster that went viral on twitter again it could really, REALLY, make some senators look bad once the public reads the memos. Otherwise I don't think it will get enough attention on the matter.

The left will, of course, poke fun at the effort regardless. But at least they won't be able to ignore it.

 

[UtahApocalypse]

I'll admit in a heart beat that I don't understand many of the processes and rules of order for the senate and nominations. But I thought a filibuster was for as long as the person speaking could handle not giving up the floor?
As in ... once their on the floor nobody can do anything to make them stand down and they could theoretically talk until the second coming.

(That is how it use to work, and should work.)

Or is this more like the Cruz filibuster? Where it wasn't one technically - just a speech given for the maximum amount of time allowed by the rules for the specific situation.

(That is the 'new' way that was imposed by Reid this session.)

Regardless of the "new rules" I think Rand should talk until he can talk no longer, or until they drag him out. I honestly don't think Reid would risk pulling him from the floor or cutting his mic.

 

[Inkblots]

I'll admit in a heart beat that I don't understand many of the processes and rules of order for the senate and nominations. But I thought a filibuster was for as long as the person speaking could handle not giving up the floor?

Harry Reid has invoked the so-called "nuclear option" by changing the rules of the Senate to allow debate to be ended on judicial nominees and executive-office appointments with 51 votes rather than 60. The Democrats and neo-con Republicans have more than enough votes to limit Paul's speaking time to one hour, sadly.

 

[Inkblots]

Regardless of the "new rules" I think Rand should talk until he can talk no longer, or until they drag him out. I honestly don't think Reid would risk pulling him from the floor or cutting his mic.

Of course he would cut his mic. Do you ever watch C-SPAN? It happens fairly routinely.

 

[francisco]

Reid has already set the schedule for tomorrow and given the timing of votes, I think Rand will speak for about an hour.

http://democrats.senate.gov/2014/05/20/schedule-for-wednesday-may-21-2014/

Thanks for the useful link.

At 2:10pm [Eastern Time], there will be a series of up to 5 roll call votes in relation to the following nominations:

Cloture on Executive Calendar 576, David Jeremiah Barron, of Massachusetts, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit...

Any way to tell if speaking time has been allocated?

 

[tsai3904]

Any way to tell if speaking time has been allocated?

The Senate stands adjourned until 9:30am on Wednesday, May 21. Following any Leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 12:15pm, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees.

Rand should be speaking some time between 9:30 - 12:15.

 

[tsai3904]

A spokesperson for Paul told Business Insider the senator plans to speak for an "extended amount of time."

Seems like Rand may speak until the vote at 2 pm.

 

[jct74]

EXCLUSIVE EXCERPTS: RAND PAUL READY TO FILIBUSTER OBAMA NOMINEE DAVID BARRON OVER DRONES

by MATTHEW BOYLE
20 May 2014, 5:51 PM PDT

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) may reprise his infamous 2013 anti-drone filibuster Wednesday to fight President Obama’s nomination of David Barron to a federal appeals court, hoping to shine a light on the would-be justice's position on that same issue.

"The nominee, David Barron, has written a defense of drone executions of American citizens not directly involved in combat,” Paul will say on the Senate floor during a speech Wednesday, according to one excerpt of the remarks provided exclusively to Breitbart News.

“Make no mistake, these memos don’t limit drone executions to one individual these memos become historic precedent for killing citizens abroad,” that excerpt Paul’s office provided to Breitbart News continues. “Some have argued that releasing the memos is sufficient to allow his nomination. This isn't a debate about transparency. This is a debate about whether or not American citizens not involved in combat are guaranteed due process.”

...

read more:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Govern...on-Nomination-Not-a-Debate-About-Transparency

 

[jct74]

Senate session started at 9:30, Harry Reid whining about Republican obstructionists now.

 

[jct74]

stream:

http://www.c-span.org/live/?channel=c-span-2