U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) shared the photo below and wrote: “Some have asked if this is photoshopped. It is not. This is Rand Paul, Justin Amash, and I leaving the Senate chamber after Senator Rand Paul forced the Patriot Act to temporarily expire on May 31, 2015. We went and ate at a German restaurant near the Capitol after this.”
[Note: After 9/11, Congress enacted the Patriot Act in October 2001 which enabled law enforcement, intelligence and national defense agencies (FBI, NSA) to use data collecting tools including roving wiretaps and warrantless surveillance to fight terrorism.]
Some have asked if this is photoshopped. It is not.
This is @RandPaul, @justinamash, and I leaving the Senate chamber after Senator Rand Paul forced the Patriot Act to temporarily expire on May 31, 2015.
We went and ate at a German restaurant near the Capitol after this. pic.twitter.com/l34Ozp86AL
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 13, 2024
In 2015, several provisions of the Patriot Act were modified and the USA Freedom Act was approved by the House, but Paul argued it did not go far enough to limit the NSA and claimed the agency’s surveillance practices were unconstitutional.
As captured in Massie’s photo, on Memorial Day while their colleagues left Washington for the long weekend, Paul, Massie and Amash stayed and celebrated the brief expiration of the Patriot Act before the Senate voted the bill through and President Obama signed the bill.
Paul’s Republican colleagues in the Senate including the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ) accused the then-GOP presidential candidate of using the issue “for his fundraising and political ambitions.”
Note: Rep. Amash left the GOP and became an independent on July 4, 2019. In April 2020 he joined the Libertarian Party, leaving Congress in January 2021 as the only Libertarian to have served in Congress.
Notably, considering their aversion to surveillance, both Massie and Paul are currently against the TikTok ban being considered in Washington.