Republican Rand Paul interrupted debate in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to make a speech opposing legislation that would extend U.S. spy agencies' collection of Americans' telephone data.

The Kentucky lawmaker, a 2016 presidential candidate, ended his roughly 10-and-a-half-hour speech just shy of midnight. As the hours passed, he was joined by other legislators, including Democrat Ron Wyden, who also want to convince the Senate not to extend provisions of the USA Patriot Act that provide the legal basis for the collection of billions of telephone call records.

"We shouldn't be so fearful that we're willing to relinquish our rights without a spirited debate," Paul said.

If Congress does not pass legislation to continue or reform current surveillance powers before leaving town on Friday for a 10-day recess, legal authorities used to collect the data will lapse. It is unclear if Congress would be willing to put new powers in place.

The House voted 338-88 last week to approve another bill, the USA Freedom Act, which would end bulk data collection and replace it with targeted information retrieval. President Barack Obama would sign the measure into law if it reaches his desk.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-senators-try-block-extension-bulk-data-collection-013449084.html

GO RAND!!! someone has to stand up for us!