Rand Paul stalls Senate for ignoring US hostages in Egypt
Rand Paul is heading multiple filibuster efforts in order to force the U.S. Senate to discuss and vote on a measure to stop foreign aid to Egypt until the Muslim Brotherhood-influenced nation releases 19 American hostages it currently holds.
While “Democrats have blasted Paul,” TheHill.com reports,
Paul fired back from the floor on Tuesday, saying that the situation in Egypt requires the upper chamber’s urgent attention.
“I don’t think this is too much to ask the Senate, to spend 10 minutes [voting],” Paul said. “Some say I am holding up the business of Senate, but I would say this is the business of the Senate.”
The Paul amendment would strip Egypt of all foreign aid for 30 days or until it releases the 19 pro-democracy workers.
Some Senate Republicans seem little better than the Democrats. The Washington Examiner reports that Senator John McCain “seemed at odds with Paul’s position”:
“We need to help them move forward,” he argued. “And I’m very unhappy, as Americans are, about the treatment of our NGOs . . . But for us not to be involved in that part of the world, I think, would be a very serious mistake.”