Sen. Rand Paul may have become a punching bag for his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls — due to his controversial comments on foreign policy and his opposition to domestic surveillance programs — but not for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The senior senator from Kentucky, who has endorsed Paul for president, refused to say a bad word about the libertarian former opthamologist when asked on Tuesday if America “would be more safe or less safe if Sen. Paul became president.”
McConnell wouldn’t bite.
“Look, I’m not gonna start making — you’re trying to get me to make a derogatory comment about members of the Senate,” he said. “I’m not going to do that. I admire and respect them all. We have different points of view on this important issue.”
The two Republicans from Kentucky have gone head-to-head on the Senate floor multiple times during the debate over Patriot Act provisions that expired at midnight on Monday.
A week before the provisions expired, Paul led an effort to block their extension even for as little as a day — something McConnell said would give the Senate more time to work out differences on the matter.
On Monday, Paul also blocked an attempt by McConnell to hold an immediate vote on the USA Freedom Act — a House-passed bill that reforms the data collection program.
Paul believes the National Security Agency’s bulk phone data collection program is unconstitutional and wants to see bigger changes to the Patriot Act provisions than those expected to pass the Senate Tuesday afternoon.
His presidential campaign has been raising money on his staunch opposition to domestic surveillance. On Monday, the campaign was forced to take down a video it posted to YouTube because it using part of a floor speech by Paul because it violated Senate ethics rules.