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Sen. Rand Paul (R KY) has blocked a motion by majority leader Mitch McConnell (R KY) to advance the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the massive military spending bill, saying that the bill should instead face debate and possible amendments. This sets the bill back for 6 weeks, at least.

In particular, Sen. Paul is seeking two amendments, one which ends NDAA authorization for indefinite detention of suspects,and another related to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), something that was added to the House version but later quietly removed by the Speaker.

Pauls protest is expected to delay the NDAA vote through at least the August recess, meaning a vote is unlikely until September. While this gives plenty of time for amendments to be debated, its not clear the Senate leadership will allow that no matter how much time theyre given.

Indeed, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R AZ) was critical of any delay on any grounds, insisting the bill and its huge spending increase are a solemn obligation for the Senate to pass without delay. Other Senators have repeatedly been angry with Sen. Paul for not getting their way on bills, but the military spending bill is such a large one its likely to be particularly unpopular to debate, as quietly slipping it through is the way these things usually go.

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Rand Paul Blocks DOD Authorization Until September - Antiwar.com

All eyes were on Arizona Sen. John McCains key vote signaling the collapseof the Republicanhealth care bill early Friday morning, but the longtimeGOP senatoralso faced frustration over a delay in turning to the defense authorization bill.

Sen. Rand Paul blocked quick action on the measure, wanting to ensure debate on rolling back authorizations for the use of military force enacted early in the George W. Bush administration.

Paulobjectedto a consent request from his fellow Kentucky Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to begin defense authorization debate because of a desire to offer amendments to the defense policy bill, including an AUMF proposal.

Senator Rand Paul requested two bipartisan amendments, one on ending indefinite detention and one on AUMFs. He looks forward to working with leadership and the committee to get this done soon, a spokesman for Paul said Friday.

One of the Paul amendments would provide for a sunset of the 2001 and 2002 authorizations for use of force, according to a tweet from Pauls senior strategist Doug Stafford.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said at a Friday news conference thathe,McCain and Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed attempted to work the matter out with Paul on the floor overnight, but couldnt.

Schumer said it would now be up to McConnell to resolve the issue.

The defense authorization had been on a list of priority items for consideration before senators depart for recess. That list also includes a slew of nominations, an FDA user fee reauthorization and legislation to meet the ongoing funding needs of the choice program for veterans health care.

Sen. Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican, said he anticipated Senate action before recess on the veterans choice bill, which passed the House Friday.

As a senior member of [the Veterans Affairs] Committee, guaranteeing Nevadas veterans have access to the Choice Program for services the VA cannot provide like chemotherapy or lifesaving surgeries has always been a top priority of mine,he said. I expect the Senate to act next week to pass this legislation, and Ill work to make sure our countrys heroes continue to have access to the health care services that some of them desperately need.

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Rand Paul Wants AUMF Debate With Defense Authorization - Roll Call

WASHINGTON Reauthorizing current surveillance laws would invade the privacy of American citizens, libertarian Sen. Rand Paul and liberal Sen. Ron Wyden warned Thursday.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 is set to lapse at the end of this year. Section 702 of the law allows, The Intelligence Community to target communications of non-U.S. persons located outside the United States for foreign intelligence purposes, according to the House Intelligence Committee.

Speaking at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, Wyden and other opponents of reauthorization are concerned about loopholes that allegedly invade the privacy of American citizens.

If you mention a foreign target or their contact information, you can get swept up in this, he said. There is nothing today that prevents law enforcement from searching through government databases and reading an Americans emails that have been swept up.

Incidental collection of the data of Americans often happens through about communications. About communications occur in the content of the email.

If two Americans are communicating domestically in an exchange that names a foreign intelligence target (say, an email that mentions an al-Qaeda operative by name), that email might be incidentally collected, according to Paul Rosenzweig, Charles Stimson, and David Shedd of the Heritage Foundation.

Proponents of section 702 reauthorization argue that innocent American citizens will not be targeted because they are not committing crimes.

They accept that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, said Paul. They also seem to think that the government always does good. Do they remember the interning of the Japanese?

Instead of reauthorizing the FISA Amendments Act as-is, Wyden suggested four ways to reform the legislation.

First off, 702 needs an expiration date, he said. It should not be permanent. Its had an expiration date because of the changes in technology. Wyden stressed that the law requires reevaluation every few years in light of rapid technological change.

He also pushed for a legal prohibition on collection of about communication, adding new voices to the FISA court where the judges currently only hear the governments side of the debate and lack technology experts and increased transparency of how many people are targeted in backdoor searches of Americans using 702.

We have lowered the standard below the Fourth Amendment for foreign persons, said Sen. Paul. Do we want a government whos going to look at our every transaction, everything we do through a lower standard?

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Rand Paul Wants Government's Hands Off Your Emails | Sojourners - Sojourners

WASHINGTON Three years ago when he was starting to run for president, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., spoke with then-California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris about his proposals to reduce the rates at which convicted criminals commit new crimes and return to jail. Now that theyre both in the Senate, Paul and Harris are teaming up on another criminal justice reform idea they know is popular back home and believe can find bipartisan support: providing aid to people who cant afford bail.

It literally is about do you have cash sitting at home that you can afford to write the check to get out versus, you dont, youre barely making ends meet every month, Harris, D-Calif., said.

Associated Press

But bills co-written by Democrats and Republicans barely move past the first round of headlines and news conferences these days even if its backed by an unlikely pair. Just ask Paul, who earned attention in 2014 for partnering with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., to try changing the nations sentencing laws and drug control policy. The combination of a short, mop-topped ophthalmologist from rural Kentucky and the tall, bald former big-city mayor was too good to be ignored. Their plans went nowhere.

And yet, Paul is trying again.

He and Harris argue that the requirement that defendants provide some cash to get bail and earn their release keeps hundreds of thousands of defendants behind bars awaiting trial on minor charges because they cant afford to get out. They call it one of the most inequitable aspects of the criminal justice system.

I think theres a majority there might even be 60 votes for some of these things on criminal justice reform, Paul said in a joint interview with Harris on Tuesday. We have to push forward.

Harris agreed.

A lot of what were talking about is disparities in terms of how Americans are treated in the criminal justice because of their wealth or not, she said. Poor people, working people are treated differently, particularly on this issue of bail.

Paul and Harris Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act is a modest proposal that would set aside $10 million in federal grant money to begin encouraging more states to drop or curtail cash bail systems and consider other factors when sorting out if a defendant should be kept behind bars before trial.

Nationwide, roughly 47 percent of felony defendants with bonds remain jailed before their cases are heard because they cannot make bail. Harriss office said the problem affects more than 450,000 people nationwide.

But a growing number of large jurisdictions are changing their policy both to ease prison populations and to account for a defendants financial situation. For years, Washington, D.C. has released suspects awaiting trial without requiring them to leave behind any money on a promise that they will return to court and meet conditions such as checking in with a pretrial officer or submit to drug tests.

And last week, Chicago became the largest city in the nation to allow judges to consider whether people do not have enough money to pay for their release, an important victory for bail reform advocates. Under the new rules, judges can no longer set bail so high that defendants cant afford to pay for their release. The decision followed a Chicago Tribune investigation that found as many as 300 prisoners sat in the Cook County Jail because they couldnt pay $100 to post bail.

Its not just about race its about poverty, Paul said, noting that support for reforming the criminal justice system cuts across states, parties and ideology.

In Kentucky, state lawmakers are debating whether to expand a felony expungement law that would allow people convicted of minor drug offenses to clear their records after 10 years. That comes after the Republican governor signed a bill last year that allows people convicted of nonviolent felonies to apply to expunge their records if they stay out of trouble for five years and pay a $500 fee.

Paul said he supports such bills because, You cant work if you have this glaring criminal record out there that prevents you from finding work.

Three years ago this summer as buzz about a potential presidential campaign hit a fever pitch, Paul traveled to Guatemala to perform free eye surgeries for hundreds of impoverished people. The stage-managed political voyage helped reveal a rarely seen side of the senator and helped stoke speculation ahead of an ultimately unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.

Harris, just seven months into her first Senate term, is already enduring fevered speculation about her political future. In recent weeks, she has met with top-dollar Democratic donors who backed Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and has consented to carefully-chosen interviews with niche outlets, including a live-audience tapping of Pod Save America, a podcast popular with young progressives, and the release of a Spotify music playlist to Blavity, a website popular with Black millennials, timed to coincide with African American Music Month.

In their only joint interview to tout their new bill, Paul indirectly encouraged Harris to explore a presidential bid but didnt endorse her. After all, he hasnt ruled another presidential campaign some day.

I think on the Democrat side theres a huge opening for lots and lots of people to rise up to be that person, Paul said.

Harris dismissed speculation about the presidency but didnt deny an interest. Asked why she thinks people are talking about her as a presidential candidate, she said, I think people like to gossip.

I came to D.C. hoping to have impact on real human beings and their lives. And sharing with this incredible body of people these smart, powerful people the views and the voices of folks that might not otherwise be seen or heard, she added.

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Why are Rand Paul and Kamala Harris teaming up on a bill? The ... - The Denver Post

Following another failure on the Obamacare repeal effort, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., expressed hope Wednesday night that his conference could eventually get something done on healthcare, but would have to change its strategy.

After speaking at the Young Americans for Liberty National Convention, the senator made clear that in order to get anything done, Republicans have to find a lowest common denominator. "I think it makes more sense to start small and work big," Paul told the Washington Examiner. "They started with such an enormous bill, and then by the end they were throwing everything in there but the kitchen sink. I mean, they threw an extra hundred billion in at the very end."

The best way to get something done, Paul said, is for the Senate to craft a skinny bill to send to the House and avoid a conference committee altogether.

Paul has refused to support the Better Care Reconciliation Act primarily because of how much federal money it promises to insurance companies, something the senator called the epitome of crony capitalism in his speech to the YAL audience.

If the bill ends up in a conference committee, Paul said, it will end up looking more like the BCRA. "I think if it goes to conference committee again and they load it up with all the pork, I won't vote for it. If they pass the skinny bill that both conservatives and moderates can vote for, I think then you've got a chance to just send it over directly to the House."

There are still concerns about how insurance markets would respond to an Obamacare repeal, especially a "skinny" repeal, which would focus less on stabilizing the marketplace as the BCRA did and more on simply repealing Obamacare. Paul spoke of his effort to work association health plans, which would allow those in the individual market to group together and create bigger and more-diverse risk pools, into a skinny repeal proposal.

However, Paul also said that without true repeal, there is no hope for stabilized markets.

"The insurance market is a disaster now, and no matter what you do, unless you're willing to repeal all the regulations, it will be a disaster in 2018," Paul said.

"It's not the fault of Republicans. It's the fault of Obamacare."

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Rand Paul says Republicans should seek 'lowest common denominator' on healthcare negotiations - Washington Examiner