Senators give up on trying to extend the Patriot Act and leave town with the program set to lapse by May 31st.

Courtesy of Politico:  

The Senate plunged into chaos Saturday as Republicans found themselves tangled over the PATRIOT Act, Rand Paul repeatedly stymied his leaders, and senators left town with critical national security programs about to lapse. 

In a rare early morning Saturday vote, the Senate blocked a popular House bill that would rein in controversial government surveillance programs. The vote was 57-42, and it needed 60 votes to advance. Immediately after that vote, the Senate also rejected a straight 60-day extension of the Bush-era national security law on a 45-54 vote — leaving the Senate with no immediate options to ensure the programs don’t expire before the end of the month.

Paul, the libertarian firebrand and GOP presidential hopeful, pushed the Senate into the wee hours of Saturday to protest the bulk collection of phone records, as weary and recess-hungry senators trudged through a packed to-do list — finishing trade legislation but getting stuck on the PATRIOT Act issues. 

“It’s not about making a point, it’s about trying to prevent the bulk collection of data,” Paul told reporters after the Senate floor drama. When asked whether his objections were a fundraising tactic, Paul responded: “I think people don’t question my sincerity.” 

Actually I do that all of the time, but I have to admit that right now Paul, and the Senators voting with him, are doing the American people a solid.

Here is what Time magazine had to report about this: 

The main stumbling block was a House-passed provision to end the NSA’s bulk collection of domestic phone records. Instead, the records would remain with telephone companies subject to a case-by-case review. 

The White House has pressured the Senate to back the House bill, which drew an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote last week and had the backing of GOP leaders, Democrats and the libertarian-leaning members. 

But the Senate blocked the bill on a vote of 57-42, short of the 60-vote threshold to move ahead. That was immediately followed by rejection of a two-month extension to the existing programs. The vote was 54-45, again short of the 60-vote threshold. 

McConnell repeatedly asked for an even shorter renewal of current law, ticking down days from June 8 to June 2. But Paul and other opponents of the post-Sept. 11 law objected each time.

The NSA has reported that they will begin winding down their collection of domestic calling records this next week if their was no movement on this extension, which sounds almost too good to be true.

It should probably come as no surprise that Jeb Bush not only supports the Patriot Act, but has blinders on concerning its effect on Americans:

"There's not a shred of evidence that anybody's civil liberties have been violated by it. Not a shred," Bush said Thursday in New Hampshire.

Yeah, right.

I still do not trust Rand Paul as far as I could fling his hairpiece, but I have to admit that he is doing a good thing here.

By the way here is video of Mitch McConnell repeatedly attempting to extend the Patriot Act, and Rand Paul repeatedly shutting him down.  That's actually pretty entertaining.