Vote Monday could end Paul's hold on Comey confirmation (update: hold dropped)

[jct74]

Senate vote Monday could end Sen. Rand Paul's hold on confirmation of new FBI director

by James R. Carroll
Jul. 29, 2013 4:04 PM

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday headed for a showdown in the Senate over his blocking of President Barack Obama’s nominee for director of the FBI.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., set a 5:30 p.m. procedural vote, called a cloture vote, to end Paul’s hold on nominee James Comey. It will take 60 votes for the Senate to move to the nomination, and Reid would not have scheduled such a vote if he did not believe he would prevail.

Paul has said he is not objecting to Comey’s qualifications, but rather was holding up the confirmation to get answers from the FBI about its use of drones.

Reid was clearly not sympathetic when he announced the procedural vote, one of many he has conducted to end Republican objections to various Obama nominees.

“Our chief law enforcement officer — we’re finding we have to file cloture on that,” the Senate Democratic leader said.

...

read more:
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130729/NEWS01/307290082/Senate-vote-Monday-could-end-Sen-Rand-Paul-s-hold-confirmation-new-FBI-director

[jct74]

update: Rand has dropped his hold


FBI Issues Response to Sen. Paul’s Correspondence on Drones

Jul 29, 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sen. Rand Paul today received further correspondence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding his concern over the use of FBI surveillance drones on U.S. soil.

"The FBI today responded to my questions on domestic use of surveillance drones by saying that they don't necessarily need a warrant to deploy this technology. I disagree with this interpretation. However, given the fact that they did respond to my concerns over drone use on U.S. soil, I have decided to release my hold on the pending FBI director nominee," Sen. Paul said.

Text of the FBI response letter from today can be found HERE.


BACKGROUND

Sen. Paul initiated correspondence on June 20, with a letter to Director Robert Mueller that included questions regarding the FBI's governance policy on using drones on American soil.

After receiving no response from Director Mueller for weeks, on July 9, Sen. Paul sent a second letter to Director Mueller requesting immediate action to address his questions.

Last week, the office of Congressional affairs at the FBI recently sent two responses, one classified and one unclassified, to answer Sen. Paul's concerns. The content of the classified letter cannot be disclosed publicly, but a copy of the unclassified response can be found HERE.

The answers included in both letters were not sufficient to answering all of Sen. Paul's questions, prompting him to send the following correspondence to the FBI on July 25.

http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=905

[jtstellar]

would the prosecution of traitors be the new hit tv production 10 years from now.. if tv still exists

[phill4paul]

"The FBI today responded to my questions on domestic use of surveillance drones by saying that they don't necessarily need a warrant to deploy this technology. I disagree with this interpretation. However, given the fact that they did respond to my concerns over drone use on U.S. soil,
I have decided to release my hold on the pending FBI director nominee," Sen. Paul said

Ummm..... let it go phill4paul, let it go. He has a plan. A ninja sneak attack. Just let it go.

[anaconda]

would the prosecution of traitors be the new hit tv production 10 years from now.. if tv still exists

Now there's a "reality" show I could get into.

[jct74]

Comey confirmed by 93-1 vote, Rand Paul the lone "no" vote.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130729/NEWS01/307290082/1001/With-only-minutes-spare-Sen-Rand-Paul-drops-hold-James-Comey-s-nomination-FBI-director

[jtstellar]

someone disagreed with rand's take that president should have leeway with his appointees, that members should refrain from voting 'no' based on ideological differences unless there are questions in regards to criminal behavior or background.

i forget who it was that persuaded rand to take more 'no' votes, but rand has been taking a lot more 'no' votes on nominations since then.

[Brett85]

Ummm..... let it go phill4paul, let it go. He has a plan. A ninja sneak attack. Just let it go.

The Senate had the power to break Rand's hold anyway. It only takes 60 Senators to break a hold. He would've been confirmed today whether Rand offically dropped the hold or not.

[Occam's Banana]

“Our chief law enforcement officer — we’re finding we have to file cloture on that,” the Senate Democratic leader said.

Hey, waitaminnit! I thought the Attorney General was supposed to be "our chief law enforcement officer."

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. It's a classic case of "too many chiefs ..."