North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek issued the following statement after Republicans in the Senate blocked a straight up-or-down vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment to change course in Iraq:

“It is a shameful and sad day today as Republicans in Washington once again put their loyalty to President Bush ahead of the American people and ahead of our brave men and women in uniform. Just one day after a new National Intelligence Estimate gave more evidence that Republicans have failed to make our homeland safe and allowed Al Qaeda to rebuild, Republicans like Elizabeth Dole and Robin Hayes chose to protect the President and his disastrous Iraq policy.

"For the last six months, Democrats have been keeping their promise to North Carolina by working to change course in Iraq. Every step of the way, Republicans like Dole and Hayes have shown that they lack the vision and backbone to stand up to Bush. The time has come to begin responsibly redeploying our troops and refocusing on the war on terrorism. Republicans in Washington will be held accountable for their obstructionism when they face the voters in 2008. Every obstructionist step of the way, they prove that the only way to responsibly bring war to an end is to elect Democrats in 2008."