On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans have managed to block the Senate from voting on a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush’s escalation of the war in Iraq. The resolution would have marked the first effort by Congress in four years to confront President Bush over the war. This is Democratic senator and presidential candidate Joseph Biden:

Sen. Joseph Biden: “If the president does not listen to the majority of Congress and the majority of the American people, we will look at other ways to turn the surge around. Even if we succeed in that effort, we still need to turn our overall Iraq policy around. We need a strategy that can produce a political settlement in Iraq. That’s the only way to stop Shiites and Sunnis from killing each other and to allow our troops to leave Iraq without trading a dictator for chaos.”

Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman joined with Republicans in filibustering the measure. Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota switched sides and voted with the Democrats. Both Collins and Coleman are up for re-election in 2008.