Tagged: defense bill

Politics
11:48 am
Tue December 4, 2012

Paul Amendment Changes How Soldiers Are Counted in Census

Credit U.S. Senate
Rand Paul

Services members would be counted differently in future U.S. Censuses under a successful amendment to a major defense bill that's to be debated in the U.S. Congress -- an amendment sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Currently, family members living on a military base are counted there as residents, but if a soldier is deployed away from the base, he is not counted as a base resident.

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Politics
5:18 pm
Mon December 3, 2012

John McCain Frustrated by Rand Paul's Use of Filibuster on Defense Bill

Credit U.S. Senate
Sens. Rand Paul and John McCain

Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Az., warned that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., delaying a vote on the defense bill could be used as an example of the need for filibuster reform.

Paul has been pushing to force an amendment vote on the controversial National Defense Authorization Act, which allows the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens who are judged to be involved in terrorism. He says it's important to protect those individuals constitutional rights and has jousted with fellow Republican over the rights of "crazy bastards" on the floor.

But McCain—who was using support for the measure as a sign of bipartisan cooperation in the Senate—has had enough with Paul's tactics.

From Roll Call:

On the floor, McCain said that the “Senator from Kentucky” gave notice that he would object to any unanimous consent requests or votes, a stance that would prevent the Senate from adopting the manager’s package and any other miscellaneous amendments. McCain later confirmed to CQ Roll Call that he was referring to Paul when he spoke.

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