Hours before the Senate’s PATRIOT Act standoff hit its peak this month, Republican leaders thought they had Rand Paul figured out. He would object, rail on the matter on the Senate floor — and then let at least a temporary extension through.

“I don’t agree with Sen. Paul on this issue, but I think he’s been a constructive guy,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said just before the week-long recess.


A day later with the clock past midnight and the Senate in a standstill largely because of Paul’s objections, Cornyn wasn’t nearly as generous.

“I’m a little surprised,” a perplexed Cornyn said. “Sen. Paul is asking for something that nobody will agree to.”

Paul’s handling of the PATRIOT Act issue has caught many of his GOP colleagues by surprise — and he now plans to drag the fight days past a midnight Sunday deadline, forcing the sweeping surveillance law to expire. Despite repeated cajoling by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the Memorial Day recess, Paul plans to block his fellow Kentuckian’s efforts to expedite debate, he told POLITICO Saturday.

“Let me be clear: I acknowledge the need for a robust intelligence agency and for a vigilant national security. I believe we must fight terrorism, and I believe we must stand strong against our enemies,” Paul said in a statement. “But we do not need to give up who we are to defeat them. In fact, we must not. There has to be another way. We must find it together. So tomorrow, I will force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program.”

With little other choice, McConnell is likely to try to advance a House-passed bill called the USA Freedom Act even though he personally opposes it, according to sources familiar with his thinking. But if the majority leader goes that route, he’d need the entire Senate’s cooperation. And Paul, who also opposes the measure, would likely stall final passage for days absent concessions he’s unlikely to get.

Paul, the libertarian-minded eye surgeon, has long been one of the most outspoken foes of the surveillance law and frequently finds himself in the minority of the minority on any number of issues. But he’s never brought the Senate to its knees as he has done now.

From the outside, he may seem like a bomb thrower. “Defeat the Washington machine,” reads his campaign slogan. But within the confines of the Capitol, he’s been widely viewed as a senator who knows how to work the inside game. He’d even formed a close alliance with McConnell — and Paul has previously shown he knows when to concede a losing battle.

But now he has a rare opening to stand out in dramatic fashion from a very crowded GOP field — on an issue central to his presidential campaign. So he’s not inclined to let up.

McConnell has been on the phone repeatedly with Paul and Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) over the Memorial Day recess, hoping to strike a deal that would allow the presidential hopeful some votes on his amendments and the Senate to move forward, sources said.

But McConnell appears unlikely to win an agreement for votes on Paul’s amendments, since senators are privately signaling they’d block those votes from occurring, sources said. With no other choice, McConnell appears likely to try to pass the House’s USA Freedom Act and move to end debate Monday, setting up a final vote by Thursday if Paul does not relent.

Republican senators planned to meet privately Sunday afternoon, an hour after the Senate convenes. To save face, Republicans plan to argue that the six-month transition period in the USA Freedom Act will give McConnell and other opponents, who have argued it would hinder intelligence gathering, some time to try to amend it.

None of this flies with Paul, however.

Even though a majority in both parties oppose his position to kill the PATRIOT Act outright, Paul is poised Sunday to do something that once seemed unthinkable: Force at least a brief expiration of a law that had just one dissenting Senate vote in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Such a move would make him a hero of his supporters who fear the reach of government into their lives — but could prompt a sharp backlash from the intelligence community and reignite criticism from his 2016 rivals that the libertarian-minded freshman is unfit to be commander-in-chief.

Paul got some back-up Friday when a super PAC supporting the Kentucky Republican released a bombastic ad declaring “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” would be the “biggest of brawl for liberty of the century.”

Republican hawks are nervous that Paul could win.

“To say that he’s on an island is an understatement,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who plans to jump into the presidential race Monday. “Very few people who understand the world as it is believe it’s a good idea to repeal the PATRIOT Act in its entirety.”

“I don’t know who Sen. Paul listens to,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “It certainly isn’t the same people I listen to.”

Because of the midnight Sunday expiration of key PATRIOT Act authorities, and the quirkiness of Senate rules that require hours of extended debate and unanimous agreement for virtually any business to proceed quickly, Paul could drag the debate into at least Thursday, three days after the authorities expire.

It may just be a symbolic victory, since Congress by and large agrees that much the law should be preserved and will ultimately do so. But James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, and other senior administration officials are warning that even a temporary lapse could undermine anti-terrorism initiatives.

“I think that’s a mistake,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said when asked about Paul’s position. “I respect the views of those who disagree, but I think the program is sound. It needs to be managed more effectively, but it helps protect America.”

Three main PATRIOT Act provisions are set to lapse Monday, including authority the NSA used to justify the “bulk data” phone collection program that Edward Snowden exposed.

GOP hawks including McConnell want a straight extension of the current law. But backed by an overwhelming majority of the House, a bipartisan group of senators is behind the USA Freedom Act, which would significantly overhaul the bulk data program by requiring phone companies store the records — not the federal government — and allow the NSA to access them through a secret court order. The White House backs the bill as well.

But it fell three votes shy of breaking a McConnell-led filibuster during the late night session before the recess. When McConnell tried to move several short-term extensions of the law, he was blocked by Paul and like-minded allies, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.

“There is a pretty long history in the commonwealth of Kentucky of pretty heated feuds going all the way back to the Hatfields and McCoys,” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, told reporters Friday.

Paul strongly opposes the USA Freedom Act, arguing it amounts to an expansion of the PATRIOT Act and would torpedo a lawsuit contending that the bulk data collection program is illegal. He has warned repeatedly at campaign appearances that both measures blatantly violate privacy rights and an adviser said he would block any attempt to expedite the USA Freedom Act’s passage without votes on his amendments. Every senator would have to agree to go along, though, which they’ve resisted so far.

“That’s what we fought the revolution over!” Paul told supporters at Philadelphia’s Freedom Hall earlier this month.

The day of his Philadelphia rally, Paul acknowledged he would ultimately lose the fight since a vast majority of Congress supports extending a bulk of the PATRIOT Act. He told POLITICO he simply wanted votes on five or six of his amendments. Paul had yet to speak to McConnell in detail about his plans then — and he didn’t give the GOP leader a heads-up two days later when he went to the floor for 10 and 1/2 hours to rail against the PATRIOT Act.

Even after that marathon speech, McConnell and GOP leaders were confident Paul and the rest of their GOP troops would fall in line with the Memorial Day recess just days away. But Paul remained mum throughout the week, not speaking up at or skipping GOP lunches at which the issue was discussed.

The night before senators were set to leave town, Republicans thought they could still accommodate Paul. He lowered early demands for 10 amendment votes to three and then two — a sign of his apparent willingness to compromise. Even then, though, Paul wanted his proposals to be subject to a 51- instead of typical 60-vote threshold, special treatment that some other senators were bound to object to.

“He was very calm,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who tried to broker a deal with Paul. “He obviously wanted to get the votes.”

Burgess Everett and Sarah Wheaton contributed to this story.

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