The Senate adjourned for the Fourth of July Recess without taking action on several important pending bills, including a mortgage bailout, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization, and the war funding supplemental. Democratic leaders complain that minority Republicans have deliberately stalled legislation in an attempt to create a "do-nothing Congress" against which to run in the fall. But Democrats have short memories, forgetting that when they were in the minority, they adopted much the same tactics to prevent bills that they opposed from advancing. Then, filibusters were a precious right of the minority, vital to the functioning of a democracy and a sacred method of preventing a tyrrany of the majority.

Ironically, Republicans did not hold up the FISA bill or the war supplemental. Those bills are delayed by infighting among factions in the Democratic caucus. Liberals like Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), oppose the measures both on principle and as a result of pressure from their political base and wish to offer amendments to soften their impact. The mortgage bailout is opposed by more conservative members in the Republican caucus, but will likely pass by a large majority when it does come up for a vote. Republicans argue that by stalling work in the Senate, they are protecting their minority status from an uncooperative majority which often denies them the chance to amend legislation or offer alternatives.

The back and forth battle is nothing new in Washington politics. Both parties engage in it just as vigorously as they decry its results. But in the short run, it appears that Republicans have been particularly successful at frustrating the Democratic leadership, as well as preventing legislation that their base would find difficult to accept. In an election year that is shaping up to very bad for Republicans, they may have to take their solace anywhere they can find it.

The Senate last night confirmed five new commissioners for the Federal Elections Commission under the terms of a deal reached with the Bush Administration to end a six-month long stalemate that had prevented the elections watchdog from issuing rulings and enforcing election laws. Democratic Senators refused to confirm a Bush nominee, Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, over his advocacy for policies that the Democrats considered to be discriminatory. Von Spakovsky withdrew his name soon after the deal was struck between the Administration and Senate negotiators, paving the way for last night's confirmations.

The FEC has been unable to operate since October 2007 due in part to a hold placed on von Spakovsky's nomination by Sen. Barack Obama. Obama placed the hold out of concern over certain decisions made by the Voting Section during von Spakovsky's tenure, specifically the Justice Department's defense of a Georgia voter identification law and a Texas redistricting plan, both of which were later upheld by federal courts. In retaliation for Obama's hold, Republican Senators placed holds of their own on three other nominees to the commission, leaving only two confirmed commissioners, not enough for the Commission to reach a quorum, hold a meeting, or issue a ruling.

With its new commissioners in place, the FEC will now be able distribute federal campaign funding to Sen. John McCain, Sen. Obama has reversed an earlier pledge to accept federal campaign financing, and rule on an outstanding Democratic Party challenge to McCain's decision to opt out of federal financing for the primary campaign. The new members of the Commission include Cynthia Bauerly, the former legislative director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Republicans Caroline Hunter and Donald McGahn, Matthew Petersen, and Steven Walther.

After Democratic Senators Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold issued a strongly worded statement opposing the FISA bill that passed the House of Representatives yesterday, rumors of a filibuster quickly began to circulate. But nowhere in the actual statement did it say that Dodd and Feingold would filibuster the legislation.

On Amy Goodman's TV/radio program Democracy Now, Goodman pushed for a clarification from Feingold:

GOODMAN: Senator Feingold, will you filibuster this bill?

FEINGOLD: We are going to resist this bill. We are going to make sure that the procedural votes are gone through. In other words, a filibuster is requiring sixty votes to proceed to the bill, sixty votes to get cloture on the legislation. We will also-Senator Dodd and I and others will be taking some time to talk about this on the floor. We're not just going to let it be rubberstamped.

GOODMAN: Would you filibuster, though?

FEINGOLD: That's what I just described.

Dodd and Feingold have their legislative bag of tricks out and they are going to make passage of the so-called FISA compromise as painful as possible. At the end of the 2007 Congressional session, Dodd ran out the clock on an earlier version of FISA that included telecom immunity.

Is there a bigger mortgage scandal a'brewin' in Washington? By now you've read about Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who -- they say unknowingly -- received VIP treatment on their home loans from Countrywide. Now Politico is wondering how widespread the problem is. Politico has asked all 100 senators to reveal the details of their mortgages. "Seventy-seven senators have complied so far. Twenty-three have not."

Senate ethics experts say the controversy over the special mortgages received by Dodd and Conrad has opened a window into the clubby world where senators can dial up major banking executives and discuss their financial needs, as Conrad did.

"This short list of senators who did not disclose is where I would start an investigation," said Keith Ashdown, a vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. By failing to disclose, he said, senators are "not only in the cross hairs of investigators, but they're also making this a political issue in an election year, because it looks like they have something to hide."

Right now senators don't have to disclose home loan details unless they're getting rental income from the property, but now with the Dodd and Conrad controversies Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to change the rules and make such information public.

Via RedState's Moe Lane: Sen. Russ Feingold will not filibuster FISA. As Lane points out, Feingold is a star in the McCain constellation, having co-sponsored the famous, or infamous, Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, otherwise known as McCain-Feingold.

Senator Feingold promises the FISA compromise won't pass quickly, but not that it won't pass. He refers to the surveillance program of the last six years as misstep, and is seeking a commission to assess our surveillance needs, but the former McCain ally won't be filibustering. That's something I file under: Hmm. Interesting.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) produced a video for its President Dinner fundraiser. It's narrated by Fred Thompson, five minutes in length, it is titled "Freedom."

The Senate is debating a huge mortgage bailout bill this week amid fresh allegations that certain high-powered senators and former cabinet officials received preferential treatment from mortgage giant Countrywide Financial on their personal loans. Sen. Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and chief sponsor of the mortgage compromise legislation, received two below market loans from Countrywide in 2003 under its "friends of Angelo" program. "Angelo" is Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo. After first denying it, Dodd has admitted that he knew he was receiving special treatment on his loans as a "V.I.P.," but continues to deny that he sought any deal that would benefit him financially.

But Dodd's troubles are growing, and may eventually wind up killing the mortgage bailout bill he co-authored with Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby. A new examination of Dodd's campaign contributions reveals that since Dodd became chairman of the Banking Committee in 2007, he has received over $70,000 in contributions from Bank of America and its high-level employees. Bank of America recently bought Countrywide Financial and all of its existing loans. Since Countrywide held the most sub-prime mortgages at risk of default, Bank of America is potentially exposed to huge losses, unless a government bailout moves those risky loans off Countrywide's balance sheet. Dodd has written such a bailout, and some are now questioning whether his low interest loans and Bank of America's campaign money influenced that legislation.

Democratic and Republican negotiators have reached a tentative deal in the ongoing battle over funding for the war in Iraq. The Pentagon will receive all of the money requested by the White House for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan without restrictions, while Democrats will get some domestic measures inserted into the bill to help satisfy their political base. Most important politically for the Democrats, however, is that the deal will provide funds for the war through fiscal year 2009; thereby avoiding an election season vote on war funding. The compromise is slated for a vote in the House today.

A House source with knowledge of the deal said that Republican negotiators were able to secure the funding with no restrictions, eliminated funding for Planned Parenthood, and cut two Senate amendments from the final bill which would have added $8 billion in spending on pet projects and prevented the Bush Administration from restricting states from extending access to the the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). In return, Democrats won a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits, although they had wanted 26 weeks, and generous spending on education benefits for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, a new GI Bill, without increasing taxes. The White House has indicated that it will sign the bill once it is passed.

On balance, it appears that Congressional Democrats, in order to avoid a politically tricky vote on the war funding this fall, gave more than Republicans in reaching the deal. Like any good compromise, neither side will be entirely happy with the outcome. But more important than the scoring of who won or lost, is the fact that the troops will receive the funding they need and deserve to continue operations in the war on terror. With violence declining steadily in Iraq, and the Iraqi government demonstrating more control over the country, interruptions in funding for the troops helping to achieve that progress could have been devastating to the growing success there. In Afghanistan, on the other hand, attacks by Taliban militants are up, and the funds are needed to help extend the reach of the government in Kabul.

Jim Johnson, a member of Sen. Barack Obama's Vice-Presidential search committee, resigned from the campaign last week after revelations that he received preferential treatment on mortgages from Countrywide Financial came to light. Now, the scandal is widening, snaring two more prominent Obama supporters, as well as a former Bush Administration official and two former Clinton Administration cabinet members.

Obama supporter Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), admitted Saturday that he received a discounted mortgage from Countrywide under the same "friends of Angelo" program as Johnson, although he claimed not to have had knowledge of the special deal. "Angelo" is Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo. "It appears Countrywide waived one point on my mortgage,'' Conrad said in a statement. "Although I did not ask for or know that I was receiving a discount, and even though I was offered a competitive loan from another lender, I do not want to have received preferential treatment.'' That claim seems a little specious, since Conrad would have seen the rate and paid the points at the loan closing. Either he did not read the details of the papers he was signing, or he is not telling the whole truth. Conrad also said that he received a loan on an eight-unit apartment complex in Bismarck from Countrywide, although the lender typically only writes loans on buildings of four-units or less.

Another Obama backer, Sen. Chris Dodd, may have more explaining to do. Dodd (D-CT), a former presidential candidate himself, is the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and the sponsor of a major piece of housing relief legislation slated to be sent to the president for his signature soon. According to reports, Dodd benefited from Mozillo's Countrywide largess, too; and his position on the Banking Committee creates the appearance of a conflict of interest over the mortgage bailout he is sponsoring.