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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says hes still fighting against bulk data collection by the National Security Agency despite voting this week against moving forward with a bill meant to help reform such practices.

In an interview with the Daily News on Wednesday a day after casting his vote the Kentucky Republican from Bowling Green said hehas been one of the loudest voices on Capitol Hill speaking out against the NSAs mass collection and storage of telephone metadata.Metadata include telephone numbers that make and receive calls and the time and date of a call.

Im also an opponent of the Patriot Act, which allowed a lot of this to happen, he said.

Paul said that while the NSA reform bill sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would have done some good things, it would also have reauthorized some provisions of the Patriot Act through 2017. That act, Paul notes, is what allowed such collection of information to happen in the first place.

It was one of those situations where youre torn, he said.

Pauls vote against moving forward with the bill put him on the same side as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., but for opposite reasons.

McConnell has expressed concern that the bill could hurt the fight against terrorism.

This is the worst possible time to be tying our hands behind our backs, McConnell was quoted by the New York Times as saying before Tuesdays vote.

Despite that opposition, Paul said McConnell will allow legislative amendments in the Senate when he takes over as majority leader. Those amendments could help move toward reforms of the NSA.

Coming up in the next Congress, Senator McConnell has promised an open amendment process, Paul said.

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Paul talks NSA data collection, Patriot Act

Paul balances immigration order, 2016 prospects

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (AP) - With an eye toward 2016, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul sought to find a balance Friday between opposing President Barack Obamas executive orders on immigration and his efforts to grow the Republican partys base with minority groups.

Obama announced Thursday that he would be delaying the deportation of up to 5 million people who are in the country illegally. Most of those are people who have been in the country illegally for more than five years but have had children born in the United States, and thus are U.S. citizens.

Paul, like most Senate Republicans, has opposed Obamas orders. But Paul said Friday his opposition is about a president abusing his power, not about immigration reform.

If Obama decided to unilaterally lower taxes. Id be saying the same thing, Paul told reporters after a speech to law students at Northern Kentucky University. People understand what the issue is and the issue isnt really so much the subject as it is whether the president can create law.

Paul has made a point of trying to grow the Republican base. In a highly publicized speech to the National Urban League earlier this year, he advocated for restoring the voting rights of some convicted felons and eliminating the sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine. The ideas are part of a series of bills Paul has introduced designed to correct the racial imbalance in the countrys judicial system.

Opposing Obamas sweeping immigration reform could put Paul at odds with the nations growing Hispanic community, no matter how he phrases his positions. But Paul predicted once Republicans formally take control of the U.S. Senate in January, giving them control of both legislative bodies on Capitol Hill, an immigration reform bill would make it to Obamas desk.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - A federal judge has turned down a request from a Kentucky death row inmate to reconsider his request for a new trial and to overturn his death sentences in the slayings of three people in central Kentucky.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning on Friday found that 55-year-old Mitchell Willoughby didnt raise any new issues in his request. Willoughby lost an initial appeal before Bunning in September.

Originally posted here:
News briefs from around Kentucky at 1:59 a.m. EST

Rand Paul: Jonathan Gruber #39;s Earnings From ObamaCare Need To Be Returned
Air Date: November 17th, 2014 This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ...

By: selfownership1

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Rand Paul: Jonathan Gruber's Earnings From ObamaCare Need To Be Returned - Video

5 Reasons Rand Paul Will Totally Be President One Day
Here are 5 reasons Randy might as well start practicing the oath of office right now.

By: The Political Garbage Channel

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5 Reasons Rand Paul Will Totally Be President One Day - Video

By Ashley Killough, CNN

updated 2:04 PM EST, Thu November 20, 2014

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky

(CNN) -- Sen. Rand Paul ripped into President Barack Obama's upcoming announcement on immigration action, saying Thursday the President has declared a "constitutional war" and warned that the fight against his executive order "won't go away lightly."

"He's fundamentally misunderstanding our constitutional republic and really collapsing this separation of powers that's so important," the Kentucky Republican said in an interview with John Gibson on Fox News Radio.

Paul, who's seriously considering a presidential bid, joins a chorus of mostly Republican voices denouncing the President ahead of his prime time appearance Thursday, when he's expected to lay out plans that would allow up to 5 million illegal immigrants to stay in the United States.

Obama's immigration speech: What to watch for

The President had repeatedly warned this year that if Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform, he would use the executive branch to move on his own.

"This isn't about immigration reform. This is about his usurping of power that the Constitution didn't give him," Paul said, arguing that Obama is "acting like a king."

"To me this is a constitutional war that he has declared," he continued.

Excerpt from:
Rand Paul: Obama declaring 'constitutional war' - CNN.com