Rand Paul indicated his intention on Friday to filibuster a surveillance reform bill that he considers insufficient, as privacy advocates felt momentum to tear the heart out of the Bush-era Patriot Act as its Snowden-era expiration date approaches.

With controversial provisions of the Patriot Act scheduled to run out at midnight on Sunday, Paul, the Kentucky senator and Republican presidential hopeful, fielded questions about how he intended to win privacy campaigners a long hoped-for victory.

“I can talk for a long time,” Paul told a cheering crowd in South Carolina, home to an important presidential primary.

Paul showed no indication that his position had changed since last week’s extended floor speech – not officially a filibuster – and that he would do whatever it took to block the Patriot Act’s renewal.

“By collecting all of your records, we’re wasting so much money, so much time, and the haystack’s so large we can’t find the terrorists,” Paul said. “I’m for looking at all of the terrorists’ records – I just want their name on the warrant and I just want it to be signed by a judge just like the constitution says.”

Renewal of the expiring Patriot Act powers would come through the USA Freedom Act, a House-passed bill that extends their lifespan in exchange for killing the bulk US phone records surveillance exposed in 2013 by the Guardian, thanks to whistleblower Edward Snowden. Many privacy groups, sensing their first chance at ending their most hated portions of the Patriot Act, have abandoned support for the USA Freedom Act they once championed.

Debate resumes on Sunday afternoon in the Senate on the future course of US surveillance authorities. As intelligence officials wondered on Friday how the Senate would vote, or if Paul would take the floor all night, they issued a final plea to pass the USA Freedom Act and spare their Patriot Act powers.

“Right now we’re having a little bit of a war in Washington,” Paul said at the rally on Friday. “It’s me versus some of the rest of them – or a lot of the rest of them.”

In a video released earlier in the day complete with a shirtless Paul, flames and soaring eagles, a political action committee supporting Paul pitted the weekend showdown as the junior Kentucky Republican against Barack Obama. But Paul’s fight most directly pits him against his senior Kentucky colleague, GOP leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell also opposes the USA Freedom Act, but for opposite reasons: McConnell wants to keep all post-9/11 government surveillance powers, while Paul seeks to end them.

In the middle is a bill that fell three votes shy of a 60-vote threshold. The USA Freedom Act, supported by Obama, junks the NSA’s bulk collection of US phone records in exchange for extending the lifespan of the Patriot Act’s controversial FBI powers.

While McConnell, Obama and many Freedom Act supporters describe those powers as crucial, a recent Justice Department report said the expiring “business records” provision has not led to “any major case developments”. Another power set to expire, the “roving wiretap” provision, has been linked to abuse in declassified documents; and the third, the “lone wolf” provision, has never been used, the FBI confirmed to the Guardian.

A political action committee supporting Paul released a video pitting the senator against Obama. Photograph: YouTube

“The FBI has not yet used the Lone Wolf provision, but it remains a very important tool to have in our toolbox, and one we wish to keep,” said FBI spokesman Christopher Allen.

The White House has long backed passage of the USA Freedom Act, calling it the only available mechanism to save the Patriot Act powers ahead of expiration now that the House has recessed until Monday.

Obama on Friday chastised what he said were “a handful of Senators” standing in the way of passing the USA Freedom Act, who he alleged risked creating an intelligence lapse.

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence whom Paul has criticized for lying to Congress about surveillance, issued a rare plea to pass a bill he has reluctantly embraced in order to retain Patriot Act powers.

“At this late date, prompt passage of the USA Freedom Act by the Senate is the best way to minimize any possible disruption of our ability to protect the American people,” Clapper said on Friday.

At the Beacon Drive-in diner in Spartanburg, Paul chastised proponents of the Patriot Act for arguing the law would prevent another 9/11. “Bull!” a woman in the crowd exclaimed, as others groaned at the national security excuse cited by more hawkish lawmakers.



“I think a lot of people in America agree with me,” Paul said, “that your phone records should not be collected by your government, unless they suspect you of a crime and unless they call a judge and unless a warrant has your name on it.”

Multiple polls released this month have found overwhelming public antipathy for government surveillance.

Still, it remains unclear if the USA Freedom Act has the votes to pass. Senate rules permit Paul to effectively block debate on the bill until expiration. Few who are watching the debate closely felt on Friday that they knew how Sunday’s dramatic session would resolve.

But privacy groups, sensing the prospect of losing one of their most reviled post-9/11 laws, were not in a mood to compromise on Friday.

“Better to let the Patriot Act sunset and reboot the conversation with a more fulsome debate,” said Anthony Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.