issue. 26 republicans joined in support of that measure. it failed by just 11 votes. in the senate members battled it out over the patriot act. senator rand paul of kentucky has been single handedly blocking a vote to renew several provisions of that act which expires at midnight tonight. paul was stalling the bill to try and force votes on several amendments including one that would forbid federal officials from searching the records of gun dealers in order to track potential terrorists. now the delay led to a very heated exchange between rand paul and the senate majority leader harry reid who made it clear how he felt about senator paul's amendment. >> he was fighting for an amendment to protect the right not of average citizens but of terrorists to cover up their gun purchases. it's all dealing with a gun amendment mr. president. it's hard to imagine why the senator from kentucky would want to hold up the patriot act for a misguided amendment that would make america less safe. >> rand paul immediately hit