Originally published October 16, 2023 1:55 pm PDT
In a recent episode of the “Independent Truths” podcast hosted by Dr. Scott Atlas, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) voiced concerns over an antiquated federal law that appears to give the U.S. president the authority to shut down all communications.
This power is colloquially referred to as an “Internet kill switch.”
Paul believes that such a provision could be detrimental to freedom and wants it repealed.
During his conversation with Atlas, Senator Paul underscored the significance of maintaining constitutional rights, even during emergencies.
“We’ve also looked at the emergency powers and emergency powers—you know the courts have said you don’t throw out the Constitution during emergencies—but a lot of our legislation acts as if you could throw things away,” he said, per to The Western Journal.
Drawing attention to the pandemic’s legal implications, Paul recounted a particular Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provision from the 1930s.
When the CDC “had a clause in there ‘and whatever else is necessary,’ the Trump Administration used that to say we didn’t have to pay our mortgages, and then the Biden administration continued that on.”
He expressed astonishment at the unanticipated extent of the CDC’s influence, saying, “But this is a power that in no way was ever given to the CDC no one ever anticipated the CDC would say you don’t have to pay your mortgage anymore pay your rent or pay your car payment that is crazy.”
Additionally, Sen. Paul brought up other emergency powers that have persisted for decades.
“We also have another series of emergency powers, some of them have been on there, we’ve had like some emergencies have been going on 50 years, they’re still on the books,” he shared.
The Kentucky senator then specifically highlighted the Communications Act’s Section 706, identified as the statute providing the president with the ability to control U.S. communications.
“There’s actually an emergency power that was given to the FCC in the 1930s that gives the president the power to shut down all communications and control all communications in the US,” he noted. “People call it the internet kill switch. It’s never been used, but and it predates the Internet, but people now think in applying it to the Internet that a president has the power to shut down the Internet. Nobody should have this.”
In terms of his stance on presidential power, Paul clarified that he opposes any president having this authority, regardless of party affiliation.
“Look, I was a supporter of Trump, he shouldn’t have it. I’m not a supporter of Biden, he definitely shouldn’t. No president of either party should have this kind of power,” he stated.
Paul mentioned his previous collaboration with Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard in 2020, aiming to repeal the said “kill switch” provision, Western Journal notes.
He emphasized the importance of limiting the duration of emergency powers, as exemplified by Kentucky’s approach.
“The one good thing that happen happened, like in our state of Kentucky our governor used emergency power to close churches, restaurants, and all, etc, hotels, gyms, the court shut him down, but when the legislature finally came back into power they said his emergency Powers don’t last longer than 30 days,” Paul explained.
The senator concluded his remarks by critiquing the inefficacy of certain pandemic mandates, asserting, “Most of the mandates involved things that didn’t slow the spread of the disease and really were uh in error even just based on the science, not based on the freedoms that was lost, but just based on the science, most things they did were ineffective and wrongheaded.”
