Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to drop his filibuster so that the Senate could proceed with votes this evening, but Paul declined to do so.
“I have no problem with people talking a long time,” Reid said, before asking if Paul and two other senators would limit themselves to speaking for 30 minutes more each.
Reid asked for unanimous consent, but Paul objected. “The only thing I would like is a clarification,” Paul said, proposing that Holder retract his claim that “it is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”
Paul noted that Holder seemed to contradict that statement during testimony this morning; he said he would end the filibuster immediately if Holder put his apparent retraction into a “coherent letter.”
Reid decided to continue with Senate business tomorrow rather than fight for time today.
