On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) amendment that would repeal authorizations for use of military force (AUMFs) from 2001 and 2002 that successive presidents have perversely used to justify just about any military action a president wants to pursue across the world was tabled in the United States Senate by a vote of 61 to 36. This procedural vote prevented a vote on the actual bill and thus is in line with the Congress’ year-after-year practice of deferring to the executive branch regarding war instead of fulfilling the legislative branch’s constitutional power regarding the matter.

Interviewed Thursday at RT, Ron Paul, who is Rand Paul’s father and a former member of the US House of Representatives, commented that the amendment’s failure to pass was not a surprise. Yet, Paul says that he is “very pleased” that the amendment did as well as it did considering Rand Paul was taking on “the whole Senate and the establishment” that did not want the amendment to have any consideration whatsoever. Ron Paul further noted that he believes that pressure from Americans on their senators led to a vote total in support of the amendment that far exceeded what Ron Paul expected, though it still fell short of the vote total needed for passage.

“We need to continue our efforts to wake up the American people so that that 36 votes turns into 66 votes,” says Ron Paul.

Watch the complete interview here:

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.