Covered at Reason 24/7: Sen. Rand Paul Filibuster Successfully Delays CIA Vote
Come back tomorrow, Sen. Reid
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has been on the Senate Floor for about six hours now filibustering the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director in order to object to the lack of transparency from the Obama Administration. He is demanding information about the use of drones for extrajudicial executions of terrorism suspects and more clarity about whether the Department of Justice believes it's legal to kill non-combatants on American soil without the benefit of a trial.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attempted to bring about the end of the filibuster and failed. Paul is still talking and the vote won't happen until tomorrow, at least.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to push the chamber toward a final vote on John Brennan's nomination to head the Central Intelligence Agency was blocked, at least temporarily, by a filibuster.
Mr. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, moved to end debate on the nomination earlier in the day, but Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) stalled the chamber as he expressed anger with the Obama administration after Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter Tuesday that the U.S. has authority to carry out drone strikes on American soil.
The filibuster caught Senate leaders by surprise. Mr. Reid had thought he could reach an agreement with Senate Republicans to vote on Mr. Brennan on Wednesday, early enough to allow lawmakers to adjourn before a winter storm was poised to hit. But Mr. Paul took to the Senate floor shortly before noon, promising to speak "for as long as I can hold up."
We started live-tweeting Paul's Filibuster at the Reason 24/7 Twitter feed here. We'll try to keep it up as it goes on. At least we get to sit down.
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