” WASHINGTON D.C. — Following gridlock in the US Senate, one of the most controversial sections of the anti-terrorism law, the Patriot Act, expired on Sunday night. Section 215 of the Patriot Act required businesses to turn over “all tangible things” to federal authorities.
In practice, Section 215 was interpreted by the government to allow for the bulk collection of customer data by the NSA. It expired without renewal at 12 a.m. Monday morning.
Section 215 authorized, the bulk warrantless collection of Americans phone metadata, as well as other identifying customer data from telcos and internet firms.
Section 215 also authorized the “roving wiretap” where a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, or FISA) could warrant the tapping of any phone used by a suspect.
Section 215 also permitted the secret FISA courts to issue warrants to surveil “lone wolves,” or people with no connection to any terrorist organization or government.
The Senate had before it, compromise security legislation, called the USA Freedom Act, which the House of Representatives had already passed. One provision of the USA Freedom Act would have extended the powers granted by the Patriot Act’s Section 215 for four more years.
However, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) blocked a motion by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) to fast track review of the USA Freedom Act in order to bring a vote before the midnight deadline.
A revised USA Freedom Act will likely be passed by the Senate midweek, with broad bipartisan support.
The USA Freedom Act is a compromise between the government and telcos, web companies, and civil liberties advocates, who saw Section 215 as too vague. Last month, the Federal 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled such data warrantless data collection to be illegal.
The House version of the USA Freedom Act would ban bulk phone record collections by the NSA, but require telcos to retain customers’ data instead. The the government can still get warrants from the FISA courts. Those warrants must specify a customer’s name or phone number.
The Senate will vote on the revised USA Freedom Act this week.
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” A new poll in New Hampshire puts Rand Paul and Scott Walker in first place among GOP candidates in the Granite State. Hillary Clinton still leads among Democrats, but she is showing some weakness. Hear why.”
” The spotlight on Rand Paul may help more Americans fully embrace their libertarian ideals
Rand Paul’s leadership in the Senate – on the budget, regulation, privacy, criminal justice, and foreign policy – and his likely presidential campaign are generating new attention for libertarian ideas.
“ Libertarianism is hot,” headlined the Washington Post in 2013. From an almost-forgotten part of American political culture, libertarianism has grown into a respected and much-discussed political faction and a compelling set of ideas that challenge the conventional wisdom. Tens of millions of Americans are fiscally conservative, socially tolerant, and skeptical of American military intervention.”
” The growth of the libertarian movement is a product of two factors: the spread of libertarian ideas and sentiments, and the expansion of government during the Bush and Obama administrations, particularly the civil liberties abuses after 9/11 and the bailouts and out-of-control spending after the financial crisis. As one journalist noted in 2009, “The Obama administration brought with it ambitions of a resurgence of FDR and LBJ’s active-state liberalism. And with it, Obama has revived the enduring American challenge to the state.” “
Now we come to the heart of the matter …
” In studies that David Kirby and I havepublished at the Cato Institute on “the libertarian vote,” we have found that only 2 to 4 percent of Americans say that they’re libertarian when asked. But 15 to 20 percent – 30 to 40 million Americans – hold libertarian views on a range of questions. The latest Gallup Governance Survey finds 24 percent of respondents falling into the libertarian quadrant, matching the number of conservatives and liberals and up from 17 percent in 2004 and 23 percent in 2008. And when asked in a Zogby poll if they would define themselves as “fiscally conservative and socially liberal, also known as libertarian,” fully 44 percent of respondents – 100 million Americans – accept the label.”
This is America’s innate “live and let live” attitude reasserting itself after being partially extinguished by several generations of all-encompassing Statist media , education , entertainment and public policies .
After all , there is no political tradition older nor more ingrained into the American psyche than the spirit of libertarianism , and fifty years of historical revisionism on the part of the establishment forces allied in the perpetuation of the Leviathan state have failed in snuffing it out the spark of independence .
” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is sending clear signs about an expected run for the presidency in 2016.
The first-term Republican lawmaker planned to join several other potential candidates at a gathering Sunday in Palm Springs, California, organized by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, who have a keen interest in the party’s contenders.
More than 450 allies and donors to the Koch network were to attend, with the closing event a panel discussion with Rubio and fellow Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas on domestic policy.
The organizer, Freedom Partners, is the central hub for the political machine backed by wealthy industrialists Charles and David Koch. The traditionally private Koch group planned to let reporters watch an Internet broadcast of the event.
Over the past two days, Rubio met with his main group of 300 supporters on Miami’s South Beach, and he intended to skip the Senate’s schedule for the upcoming week for fundraisers on the West Coast, Texas and Illinois. Future visits are expected to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, states that play a critical early role in the nominating process.”
” After President Obama gave his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Senator Rand Paul released his own State of the Union speech online.
Paul starts by saying, “All is not well in America,” and from here he outlines what he thinks is wrong in the country.
The first thing Paul says is needed in America is “new leadership.” He does not mean get rid of the president, rather this is a call for a limit to the number of terms congressmen and other high ranking officials can serve. Currently, the U.S. has 11 people in the House or Senate who have served 35+ years as political leaders. Paul says by eliminating the limitless number of terms these leaders can have, new blood will flow into Washington, bringing fresh and new ideas.”
Senator Rand Paul should be commended for sparking the conversation that has erupted over his statement , famously ridiculed by Jon Stewart , that cigarette taxes bear some responsibility for the NYPD killing of Eric Garner over a “crime” so trivial as selling loosies . That the discussion has quickly morphed from a concern about one revenue generating “law” that provided the impetus for Mr Garner’s death to the 300,000 some odd laws and regulations that have resulted in the “overcriminalization” of 70% of the populace .
This is a discussion that , while occupying billions of pixels in the libertarian world , has until now been one that has been arrogantly swept under the rug by the Statist supporters in the main stream media . This debate is long overdue and as the following articles make plain , offer much common ground between the Left and the Right and that common ground leads one inevitably to the libertarian view .
Thank you Senator Paul and also to you Mr Stewart , however unintentional your help may have been .
” On the opening day of law school, I always counsel my first-year students never to support a law they are not willing to kill to enforce. Usually they greet this advice with something between skepticism and puzzlement, until I remind them that the police go armed to enforce the will of the state, and if you resist, they might kill you.
I wish this caution were only theoretical. It isn’t. Whatever your view on the refusal of a New York City grand jury to indict the police officer whose chokehold apparently led to the death of Eric Garner, it’s useful to remember the crime that Garner is alleged to have committed: He was selling individual cigarettes, or loosies, in violation of New York law.
The obvious racial dynamics of the case — the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, is white; Garner was black — have sparked understandable outrage. But, at least among libertarians, so has the law that was being enforced. Wrote Nick Gillespie in the Daily Beast, “Clearly something has gone horribly wrong when a man lies dead after being confronted for selling cigarettes to willing buyers.” Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, appearing on MSNBC, also blamed the statute: “Some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes, so they’ve driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive.”
The problem is actually broader. It’s not just cigarette tax laws that can lead to the death of those the police seek to arrest. It’s every law. Libertarians argue that we have far too many laws, and the Garner case offers evidence that they’re right. I often tell my students that there will never be a perfect technology of law enforcement, and therefore it is unavoidable that there will be situations where police err on the side of too much violence rather than too little. Better training won’t lead to perfection. But fewer laws would mean fewer opportunities for official violence to get out of hand.
The legal scholar Douglas Husak, in his excellent 2009 book “ Overcriminalization: The Limits of the Criminal Law,” points out that federal law alone includes more than 3,000 crimes, fewer than half of which found in the Federal Criminal Code. The rest are scattered through other statutes. A citizen who wants to abide by the law has no quick and easy way to find out what the law actually is — a violation of the traditional principle that the state cannot punish without fair notice.
In addition to these statutes, he writes, an astonishing 300,000 or more federal regulations may be enforceable through criminal punishment in the discretion of an administrative agency. Nobody knows the number for sure.
Husak cites estimates that more than 70 percent of American adults have committed a crime that could lead to imprisonment. He quotes the legal scholar William Stuntz to the effect that we are moving toward “a world in which the law on the books makes everyone a felon.” Does this seem too dramatic? Husak points to studies suggesting that more than half of young people download music illegally from the Internet. That’s been a federal crime for almost 20 years. These kids, in theory, could all go to prison.”
This Bloomberg View article by professor Stephen Carter of Yale must be read by all who have come to rue the evolution of the most liberty-minded system of government ever devised by the minds of man into the overwhelming Leviathan State that we , as Americans , face today .
This piece is notable not only for the wisdom imparted by it’s own content , but for the discussion it has sparked in the likes of the Washington Post , Reason , EconomicLiberty and The Daily Beast , all three of which should also be read in their entirety .
” Carter correctly points out that the massive growth of criminal and regulatory law means that almost anyone can potentially end up in the same situation as Eric Garner.”
Professor Somin is joined in his agreement with professor Carter regarding the corrosive affect of “overcriminalization” and the danger that it imposes on the citizenry as a whole at Reason , where Robby Soave writes:
” You know what’s also a cause? Overcriminalization. And that one is on you, supporters of the regulatory super state. When a million things are highly regulated or outright illegal—from cigarettes to sodas of a certain size, unlicensed lemonade stands, raw milk, alcohol (for teens), marijuana, food trucks, taxicab alternatives, and even fishing supplies (in schools)—the unrestrained, often racist police force has a million reasons to pick on people. Punitive cigarette taxes, which disproportionately fall on the backs of the poorest of the poor, contribute to police brutality in the exact same way that the war on drugs does. Liberals readily admit the latter; why is the former any different? “
” In an otherwise excellent segment on the tragic Eric Garner case, in which some New York cops choked to death a man selling loose cigarettes, Jon Stewart, generally a smart man, either misunderstands or plays to his audience’s ignorance. Either way, it’s worthwhile correcting him because there is a very large point to be made about this case, a point beyond the already large point about police gone wild.
The specific issue is a claim made by Senator Rand Paul. Here’s what the clip has Senator Paul saying:
I think there’s something bigger than just the individual circumstances. . . . Some politicians put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes. So they’ve driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive. But then some politician also had to direct the police to say “Hey, we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette.”
Stewart’s response? “What the f**k are you talking about?”
Paul already said what he was talking about. Jon Stewart simply didn’t want to acknowledge the point. Stewart says correctly that the government can enforce laws without going to such extremes. Sure. It can. But one thing we have to be aware of whenever we advocate a law is that government agents who enforce it will sometimes go to extremes.”
As our title says … When everything is against the law , everyone is an outlaw.
Mr O’Rourke starts with the leading democratic contenders …
” Senator Elizabeth Warren
Native American ancestry — a fund-raising plus if she gets her own casino.
Warren is an expert in bankruptcy law, giving her a vision for our nation’s future.
As a minority, woman, and politician who chased Scott Brown into New Hampshire (showing buff chauvinist Republicans where to stick their glutes), Warren is a triple threat.
She masterminded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, making Americans feel so financially protected. (US consumer spending rose .4 percent in June!)
And she turned left — the only direction GPS units give in the hybrid cars that vegan aroma therapist Democratic primary voters drive.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary retains her iron grip on second place.
Whoever’s out in front of her is so far out front we don’t know who it is. (At this point in 2006, the current president was as likely to be nominated as a small-time community organizing junior Senator from Illinois with a name like somebody who tried to blow up an airplane with an underpants bomb.)
Hillary carries more baggage than the Boeing she used as secretary of state, visiting every country that later blew up or fell to pieces in her quest to fulfill the secretary of state’s mission, which is to accumulate frequent flier miles.
On the upside, she’s familiar with the White House — knows where the extra toilet paper is stored and where the spare key to the nuke attack briefcase is hidden (Truman Balcony, second pillar from the right).
And there’s no threat of Bill campaigning for her. The ex-First Lady has improved her aim with candy dishes and table lamps.
Vice President Joe Biden
Joe on Barack Obama: “You got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
Joe on diversity: “In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”
Joe expressing his faith in Obamacare: “I’m told Chuck Graham, state senator, is here. Stand up Chuck, let ’em see you.” (Former Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham is paraplegic.)
Joe on Obama’s foreign policy: “Watch, we’re going to have an international crisis.”
Has anyone ever spoken for the common man like Joe? “
And then moves on to the top Republican candidates …
” Governor Chris Christie
Christie is back in the GOP primary lead with 2016’s top bumper sticker, SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP.
Pundits claim Christie won’t play west of the Jersey Shore. These pundits were raised by pot-smoking parents and went to Montessori schools.
“Sit down and shut up” is how all important family discussions begin and end in the rest of America. America’s “family of voters” applauds this concise statement of foreign and domestic policy goals.
Senator Rand Paul
Ron Paul gives Rand Paul the common touch, something for Rand to share with all voters. Everybody’s dad is like that, parked in the Barcalounger watching too much Fox News. Rand feels our pain.
Rand also has libertarian principles such as individual responsibility. I feel I can trust him. That is, I feel I can trust him to keep mum about having principles until after he’s elected and maybe longer.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
Who says Republicans aren’t diverse?
Bobby’s (legal!) immigrant dad is an engineer. His mom studied nuclear physics. To paraphrase Joe Biden, “You cannot go to a university engineering department or a physics department unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
Governor Jindal is a good guy, intelligent, reasonable. He might partner well with Big Chris.
Vice President Jindal: “Here is a good, intelligent, and reasonable plan for legislative action.”
” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took aim Wednesday at the National Institutes of Health for blaming the agency’s slow response to the Ebola outbreak on budget cuts.
” We have people who go blithely on TV and say we don’t have enough money to study Ebola. Have you seen what the NIH spends money on?” Paul, a prospective 2016 presidential candidate, said at a campaign rally for Republican congressional candidates Dave Brat and Ed Gillespie.
” Nine-hundred thirty-nine thousand dollars spent to discover whether or not male fruit flies would like to consort with younger female fruit flies,” the senator said to laughter. “One hundred seventeen thousand dollars spent to determine if most monkeys are right handed and like to throw poop with their right hands.”
” And the NIH spent $2.4 million for an “Origami condom,” said Paul, who said he spared folks in the room an explanation because it was a family audience.
Paul appeared to be referring to a project to “radically” redesign the condom for the 21st century, according to the Origami website, in part to reduce HIV transmission.
The NIH, Paul said, now spends about $30 billion a year, up from $17 billion in 2000.
” When they say they don’t have enough money with their big cuts, look at the bottom line,” Paul said. “No money has been cut in Washington, but it’s about time we do cut money in Washington.”
Police in riot gear watch protesters in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014.Jeff Roberson—AP
” Anyone who thinks race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention, Sen. Rand Paul writes for TIME, amid violence in Ferguson, Mo. over the police shooting death of Michael Brown
The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.
If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.
The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.
The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.
Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:
Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.
It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.
The Cato Institute’s Walter Olson observed this week how the rising militarization of law enforcement is currently playing out in Ferguson:
Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”? “
” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) today announced he has introduced the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act to add a bit more due process to the system by which federal prosecutors seize citizens’ assets, often before ever proving they’ve broken the law. From his office’s announcement:
The FAIR Act would change federal law and protect the rights of property owners by requiring that the government prove its case with clear and convincing evidence before forfeiting seized property. State law enforcement agencies will have to abide by state law when forfeiting seized property. Finally, the legislation would remove the profit incentive for forfeiture by redirecting forfeitures assets from the Attorney General’s Asset Forfeiture Fund to the Treasury’s General Fund.
” The federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act will ensure that government agencies no longer profit from taking the property of U.S. citizens without due process, while maintaining the ability of courts to order the surrender of proceeds of crime,” Sen. Paul said. “
These results from the Republican Leadership Conference are more interesting for who lost than who won . Governor Rhino from NJ came in dead last and was in fact beaten by two candidates that were not even on the ballot . Take a hint Christie and stay in New Jersey .
” In the straw poll, 633 ballots were cast, which was attended by more than 1,500 people. The results were as follows:
1. Ted Cruz — 30.33 percent 2. Ben Carson — 29.38 percent 3. Rand Paul — 10.43 percent 4. Mike Huckabee — 5.06 percent 5. Rick Perry — 4.90 percent 6. Curt Clawson (write-in) 4.58 percent 7. Jeb Bush — 4.42 percent 8. Marco Rubio — 3.32 percent 9. Rick Santorum — 2.37 percent 10. Paul Ryan — 2.05 percent 11. Allen West (write-in) — 2.05 percent 12. Chris Christie — 1.11% “
Who says the Tea Party is dead ? Being two out of the top three vote getters does not seem corpse-like to us .
” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) received a warm welcome from a packed audience at the University of California-Berkeley on Wednesday afternoon, as he addressed the Berkeley Forum at International House.
Paul’s message of investigating and restraining the Central Intelligence Agency and other security arms of the federal government went down well on a campus that was the core of the anti-war movement in the Vietnam era. Yet there were quite a few conservative Republicans in the audience as well, on hand to hear one of their party’s new leaders–and, many expect, a likely contender for the presidential nomination in 2016.
” Maybe,” Paul said, when asked by the moderator whether he would run for president.”
Breitbart has more and we are pleased to present Senator Paul’s address in the official Berkeley version above and an unedited version from an audience member below .
” The Tea Party was alive and well at CPAC in Washington, D.C., this past week.
It was both refreshing and encouraging to witness in-person thousands of young conservatives gathering at CPAC to deliver to the Republican Party establishment that we are conservatives first and GOP supporters only when the GOP embraces conservative principles.”
The good doctor writes on Ted Cruz …
“ How did you like President Bob Dole, President John McCain, and President Mitt Romney?” Sen. Ted Cruz asked the CPAC audience. “When you don’t stand up for principle, the Democrats celebrate.”
Cruz’s point was clear: “Me-too” establishment GOP presidential cannot win by trying to create a “Big Tent” Republican Party that echoes the Democrats in wanting big government and tolerating unreasonable taxes by offering programs like “Romney-care” that are all-too-much like what the Democrats imagine in their expanding version of a social welfare state.
“ We need to audit the Federal Reserve that is driving up the cost of living for all Americans and fueling the power of petro-tyrants like Putin,” Cruz insisted.”
And Rand Paul …
” Sen. Rand Paul, who won the CPAC presidential poll for a second year in a row, rocked CPAC with a speech openly directed against the GOP establishment.
“ I’m not talking about electing Republicans,” Paul insisted. “I’m talking about electing lovers of liberty,” he continued.
“ There is a great and tumultuous battle underway, not for the future of the GOP, but for the future of the country.”
“ Will we bold in our convictions or will we be sunshine patriots that cower in the truth and power of our message?” Paul asked.”
And of course , Sarah Palin and her Dr Seuss remix …
” Sarah Palin re-wrote the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham, with a humorous version of what could constitute the Tea Party criticism of President Barack Obama:
” Republican strategists like to say the party’s next nominee needs to hail from the GOP’s gubernatorial ranks. It’s a response to how unpopular Washington is—particularly the party’s congressional wing—and a reflection of the party’s strength in holding a majority of governorships. But another reason for the gubernatorial focus is to sidestep the one formidable candidate that gives the establishment heartburn: Sen. Rand Paul.
Make no mistake: The Kentuckian scares the living daylights out of many Republicans looking for an electable nominee capable of challenging Hillary Clinton. At the same time, he’s working overtime to broaden the party’s image outside its traditional avenues of support. The 2016 Republican nominating fight will go a long way toward determining whether Paul is the modern version of Barry Goldwater or at the leading edge of a new, more libertarian brand of Republicanism.”
National Journal has a lengthy piece on the prospects of a Rand Paul candidacy and the fears said possibility is generating among the establishment GOP elite . Of course this is not the first “mainstream” media article to fan the flames of internecine struggle within the republican party and one can be sure that as 2016 approaches these types of hit pieces will become ever-more commonplace .
The MSM is nothing if not predictable in their unwavering efforts to cheerlead the democrats into office , any democrat any office , and they are as much aware of the old maxim “divide and conquer” as are you and I so we can pretty much count on this type of strategy right up to the nominating convention in the summer of 2015 .
That said , there remains the distinct possibility that the democrats and their media sidekicks fear a Paul candidacy even more than the GOP establishment . There is no denying the attraction of many of Sen Paul’s core beliefs among the voting youth of the nation and no one is doing more to reach out to minority voters as well . The libertarian ideals of “live and let live” have taken on new resonance in the age of “free healthcare” , trillion dollar bailouts and State surveillance .
The libertarian beliefs that Paul advances have grown significantly over the past 5 plus years of ever-encroaching Statism and more than a few Obama voters have seen the error of the Big Government ways . In the long run we who value liberty may well have cause to rejoice in the calamity that is the Obama administration as it has had the effect of cramming two generations worth of Statist creep into two voting cycles and thus turned a whole generation of voters off off from the government teat even as it bloats the dependency roles .
In the event that our readers had any doubts as to why a proposed $60 million project , as mentioned in our previous post , ends up costing $94 million this picture should serve as a stark reminder of the cost of government business .
” This week, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S. Car.) returned over 25 percent of his congressional office budget to the U.S. Treasury. Sanford said in a press release Thursday:
I have long believed that those in government need to spend taxpayer dollars as they would spend their own, both carefully and deliberately. Too often in government there is a distance between what a bureaucrat might spend money on and what a taxpayer would. Our office approaches this fundamental question from the side of the taxpayer and I believe our end-of-year surplus reflects that.
Today I am pleased to announce that our office returned $231,140.30 or 28.8% of the taxpayer dollars provided to our office by the House of Representatives for 2013.
” Janet Yellen likes printing money…lots of it! This self-professed Keynesian economist is slated to become Obama’s next chair of the Federal Reserve, but Rand Paul isn’t going to allow her confirmation to breeze through the Senate without a fight. Reports from Capitol Hill indicate that Paul is planning to hold up her nomination until he can get a vote on a bill to audit the Federal Reserve.
from New York Post:
Republican Senator Rand Paul plans to put a “hold” on the nomination of Janet Yellen to be chair of the Federal Reserve, CNBC reported on Friday, a move that would force supporters to round up 60 votes in the 100 seat Senate to confirm her.
CNBC, citing a source close to the Kentucky lawmaker, said Paul was insisting on a vote on a bill he has sponsored to open up the U.S. central bank’s monetary policy decisions to congressional audit.”
YouViewed/Editorial 