McConnell, Kyl "decline president's invitation to be briefed" on 4,000 more troops to Afghaninistan

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Senate Republicans Skip White House Afghan Briefing



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/senate-republicans-skip-w_n_179673.html

Senate Republican Leaders Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) declined the president's invitation to be briefed Thursday on Afghanistan war policy going forward.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said that the invitation came yesterday and that the leadership already had a meeting scheduled with more than a dozen Republican senators. It was too difficult to rearrange all those schedules, he said.

In general, he said, McConnell has attended a number of briefings at the White House and will continue to do so. A White House aide said that Kyl and McConnell would be invited to a future briefing on Afghan strategy.

The decision came as reports emerged of Obama's plans to dispatch 4,000 additional soldiers and hundreds of civilian advisers to Afghanistan this spring and summer, along with increasing aid to neighboring Pakistan.

[monmouth]

1. Working on that budget of theirs I'm sure....LOL....n/t