If Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., falls asleep or loses his voice, the filibuster of John Brennan for CIA director will continue tomorrow anyway as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set a 60-vote threshold for the nomination.
“[A]t whatever point we get to a cloture vote to extend debate on the nomination of Brennan, it is my view that cloture should not be invoked,” McConnell said while participating in the filibuster on the Senate floor. “This is a controversial nominee. Should cloture be invoked, I intend to oppose the nomination and congratulate my colleague from Kentucky for this extraordinary effort.”
Paul said he will drop the filibuster if the Obama administration states that it does not have the power to carry out a drone strike on an American citizen, in the United States, who is not an immediate threat to carry out an attack on the country.
“I will not sit quietly and let [Obama] shred the Constitution,” Paul said on the floor early in the filibuster.”No person will be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process,” he said, quoting the Fifth Amendment.
