Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has blocked the Senate from passing a resolution reaffirming whistleblower protections after Democrats refused a vote on a resolution he had passed earlier.
"I support whistleblowers, and I do think they have a role to play in keeping government accountable ... but what we have seen over the last few years is that we have a system that we should continue to refine,” Paul said, according to The Hill.
"The threats we have seen over the last few days are so egregious they demand bipartisan outrage from one end of this chamber to the other, whether you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, liberal, moderate or conservative," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor in asking, along with Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, for unanimous consent to pass the resolution. "What's happening here is another erosion of the values of this republic for political expediency."
Paul suggested that his own bill would “make clear” that President Donald Trump has the right to face his accuser, and would increase protections for contractors like Edward Snowden.
"The bill I will introduce today will expand the whistleblower act [and] would be made retroactive so Edward Snowden can come home to live in his own country. All he did was expose that his government was not obeying the Constitution," Paul said.
Hirono objected to Paul’s actions, claiming his bill “was just dropped on my lap literally just now,” adding that she was “flabbergasted” by the section applying the Sixth Amendment to impeachment proceedings.
She said that provision effectively says: "Come forward, but we're going to out you, subject you to threats, intimidation, retaliation.”
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