Republican-led opposition in the Senate blocked the highway infrastructure flank of President Obama's jobs package from advancing Thursday, as the GOP continues its united front against Democratic efforts to raise taxes on millionaires to pay for programs to create jobs.
The 51-49 vote, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition,
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http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-senate-jobs-vote-20111103,0,703683.storyWASHINGTON -- Roughly 30 jobless protesters from D.C. neighborhoods have occupied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office in the Russell Senate Office Building. They said they want to talk to him about jobs.
But McConnell was busy at the Capitol Building, where he led Republicans in blocking a $60 billion infrastructure bill. The protesters said they supported the measure.
McConnell's legislative director offered to sit down with the group, but they declined, saying they'd rather wait for the senator himself. So they sat in his office, taking up every chair and lots of floor space while McConnell's staff went about its business. A Capitol Police officer scoped the situation and said her heart went out to them for losing their jobs.
The protesters, most of whom said they lived in the poorest part of Southeast D.C., had no affiliation with the Occupy Wall Street movement. They'd been organized by a community group called OurDC, which has been hectoring Congress about jobs since it launched with SEIU seed money earlier this year. The protesters remained in the office as of Thursday afternoon as of 3 p.m. and said they wouldn't leave before meeting the senator.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/jobless-protesters-occupy_n_1074182.html
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