Senators stall vote to extend NSA phone records dragnet
U.S. Senator Rand Paul spoke on the chamber's floor for more than nine hours Wednesday during a filibuster to prevent lawmakers from voting on a bill to extend portions of the law used by the National Security Agency to collect telephone and business records from the country's residents.Paul, a Kentucky Republican, continued to talk on the Senate floor at 10:25 p.m. EST, after taking control of the chamber earlier in the day. Nine other senators joined him for short stretches throughout the day, including Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, and Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat.Time is running out for the Senate to extend the section of the Patriot Act that the NSA uses as authorization to collect telephone and other business records. Section 215 of the Patriot Act expires at the end of the month, and lawmakers are scheduled to take an extended Memorial Day break next week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here