Other lawmakers did not want to postpone early afternoon flights back home.

“It was the only flight I could get and it was scheduled for a time that was difficult,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said of the briefing.

She said he hoped that senior intelligence officials could schedule another briefing when the Senate is “in sessions.”

The Senate adjourned at 7:03 p.m. the day of the briefing, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled the last vote of the day at 12:04 p.m.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) took advantage of the early vote to catch a flight home to ensure he could attend an official event in South Dakota. A GOP aide noted that Thune has attended other classified briefings on NSA surveillance.