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Congress is set to begin its annual congressional break this weekend, but a dozen Republican senators being tagged as obstructionists may not find it to be a relaxing vacation.

Americans United for Change and the Campaign for America’s Future today announced plans for a campaign aimed at calling attention to the tactics of those senators in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. An online video titled “The Plot To Bury Progress,” featuring actor Jason Alexander (George Costanza of “Seinfeld” fame), is part of the effort.

The campaign targets Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as “Senate Obstruction Leader” and lists 10 specific “obstruction votes.” The broader numbers for the year: 43 “filibusters” in seven months and 31 vetoes threatened by President Bush between May 1 and Aug. 1.

“The Republican minority in the Congress is now planning to use this August recess to rail against the ‘do-nothing’ Congress,” Campaign for America’s Future co-Director Robert Borsage wrote on the group’s blog. “Already the House and Senate minority leaders are trotting out laugh lines about the ‘post-office Congress’ that does nothing but name post offices and launch divisive witch hunts against the administration.

“This is akin to someone mugging the postman and then complaining that the mail isn’t delivered on time. In fact, the Bush White House and Republican minority have pursued a systematic and openly admitted strategy of obstruction.”

Categories: Senate, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Producer's Picks, Mitch McConnell, 110th Congress, Republicans

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is accusing the chamber’s Democrats of holding to a double standard about judicial nominees by blocking votes on a series of nominees for the 5th U.S. District Court in Mississippi in recent years.

Democrats have blocked the selection of two nominees, Charles Pickering and Michael Wallace. Leslie Southwick is the latest in line for the job, and like the two before him, he has the support of both senators from Mississippi, Republicans Thad Cochran and Trent Lott.

In the past, McConnell said, that was the standard Democrats said warranted up-or-down votes on senators, even if they had many opponents. But he argued that Democrats have not held to that standard for the 5th District Court. “Why are the views of the Mississippi senators irrelevant?” he said.

“I’m still hopeful that Senate Judiciary Democrats are not going to let this process deteriorate to such a point that we have a total malfunction on judges,” McConnell added, saying that his goal is to “return to some kind of normal process.”

Categories: Mississippi, Producer's Picks, Thad Cochran, Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, Law & Judiciary, Courts

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This week’s staged all-night session by Senate Democrats to draw attention to the war in Iraq proved to be for naught for one simple reason: They didn’t have the 60 votes necessary to force a vote on their legislation to change U.S. policy about the war.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., emphasized that point in a floor speech. “I think we can stipulate … [that] in the United States Senate, it takes 60 votes on controversial matters,” he said. “What is more controversial than the war in Iraq. Of course it’s going to take 60 votes.”

He added that “the only reason we stayed in all night was to provide a bit of theater on an extraordinarily important issue.”

Categories: Kentucky, Iraq, Mitch McConnell

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Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Judd Gregg, R-N.H.:

Gregg:

Larry Craig, R-Idaho:

Categories: Idaho, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iraq, Harry Reid, Larry Craig, Judd Gregg, Mitch McConnell

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