Rand Paul versus the War Party and William Barr

On February 5, the Senate passed S. 1, the bill providing aid to Israel and Jordan, imposing sanctions on Syria, and allowing states to refuse to do business with participants in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement designed to convince Israel to change its policies towards the Palestinians.

The vote was 77-23. Senator Rand Paul (KY) was the only Republican to oppose the bill, and he gave a February 5 must-watch speech on the floor of the Senate  criticizing the bipartisan war party for rebuking President Trump’s efforts to withdraw U.S. Troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

You can watch Senator Paul’s speech here.

Here is the roll-call vote on S. 1.

Senator Paul was also the only Republican to vote against cloture for the nomination of William Barr for Attorney General. Three Democrats — Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — joined every Republican except Senator Paul in supporting cloture.

The vote is here.

Here is Senator Paul’s statement on Barr:

“I am unable to support Bill Barr’s nomination to be the next Attorney General. While I support President Trump and have supported most of his nominees, I have too many concerns about the record and views of this nominee. Bill Barr was a leading proponent of warrantless surveillance, and his overall record on the Fourth Amendment is troubling to me. I remain concerned that Bill Barr does not agree with our bipartisan efforts to reform our criminal justice system. Finally, Bill Barr has a troubling record on the Second Amendment. For these reasons, I voted today against his nomination for Attorney General.”