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Paul knocks McCain after detainee provision stripped from defense bill
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is upset at Senate Armed Services ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) after a provision preventing military detention of U.S. citizens was stripped from the final version of the defense authorization bill.
Paul issued a statement Wednesday saying that the defense bill is now “unconstitutional,” singling out McCain as the GOP Senate conference committee leader.
The Senate passed an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that prevented the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, which was supported by libertarian-leaning senators like Paul and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
But the amendment also received backing from those who support military detention for terror suspects captured on U.S. soil, because they claimed Feinstein’s amendment did not prevent U.S. citizens from being detained by the military.
Paul said the compromise doesn’t cut it.
“Saying that new language somehow ensures the right to habeas corpus — the right to be presented before a judge — is both questionable and not enough,” he said in a statement. “Citizens must not only be formally charged but also receive jury trials and the other protections our Constitution guarantees.”
McCain's spokesman responded in a statement that the "plain language" in the conference report "does nothing remotely resembling what Senator Paul claims."
"The relevant section, entitled ‘Rights Unaffected,’ preserves not just the right to habeas corpus, but all constitutional rights enjoyed by every person before a court of the United States," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said. "To suggest that the chairmen and ranking members of the congressional defense authorization committees somehow stripped those rights is just wrong.”
The fight over detention laws has been the most contentious issue in the defense authorization bill the past two years. Last year, a similar compromise was reached that said nothing in the bill would change current law for the detention of U.S. citizens.
The new language strikes a similar compromise, saying that last year’s defense bill along with the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force do not deny the right of habeas corpus or other constitutional rights.
The compromise can somewhat satisfy both sides of the detainee debate, because they disagree over whether the courts allow the military to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects captured in the United States.
Feinstein, who said she was “delighted” when her amendment passed, has not weighed on the new language that wound up in the final conference report. The Senate is expected to vote on the conference report after the House passes it Thursday.
Paul says he is now opposed to the defense bill, which has originally passed the Senate 98-0.
— This story was updated at 12:19 p.m.
