Rand Paul defends his protest against the Patriot Act
In an interview Tuesday on CBS This Morning, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) defended his opposition to the renewal of the Patriot Act, which resulted in a filibuster last Wednesday.
"I'm just asking for two amendments and a simple majority vote," Paul said on the show, referring to his support for ending the NSA's bulk data collection. "I think sometimes my party gets all caught up in the Second Amendment, which is fine, but we don't protect the Fourth Amendment enough. I think neither party ends up protecting the Fourth Amendment enough, which is the right to privacy." Paul added that with too much power, the government is subject to "systemic bias" in its surveillance.
Paul also laughed off rumors about tension between him and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), saying that they "keep it very civil," though they are "on opposite sides" of the NSA debate.
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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.