WASHINGTON (CBS) -- The rain and snow in Washington, DC couldn't shut down the work in the U.S. Senate, but a single senator did for nearly 13 hours.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky says, "I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our constitution is important."

Rand Paul took the Senate floor shortly before noon, and held it for nearly 13 hours; it was the first talking filibuster since 2010.

Paul sought to hold up the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director in order to obtain answers from the Obama administration on its drone policy. Rand says, "No American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court."

Paul's concerns were raised when Attorney General Eric Holder sent him a letter saying the president could be forced to order a drone strike against a U.S. citizen on American soil if it meant stopping a catastrophic attack.

Before Wednesday's filibuster, senators asked Holder about that possibility. Holder says, "The use of -- of drones is, from my perspective, something that is entirely, entirely hypothetical, and what I tried to say in the letter to Senator Paul was -- was exactly that."

While Paul's filibuster was going on, 12 of his Republican senate colleagues met President Obama for dinner. The main topic at dinner wasn't drones, it was those broad automatic budget cuts that went into effect last week.

The president needs GOP support to reach a so-called "grand bargain" on spending and taxes. Senators leaving the dinner called the meeting productive. Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska says, "These are very difficult issues. But I do think there's a real fatigue in just going from crisis to crisis."

Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota says, "Not only is it possible, but we need to do it. That's what the American people want, it is tough, everybody has to give a little."

And Washington could be closer to beating the next big fiscal deadline. The house approved legislation on Thursday to fund the government beyond march 27th.
As for the filibuster, Senator Paul demanded the president or attorney general issue a statement assuring drones would not be used to kill American terrorism suspects on u-s soil. By the time he left the floor, he said he'd received no response.