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‘Schoolhouse Rock’ Schools the Senate

Kyle Epstein, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, and Corinna Qualls, as the Constitution, deliver a copy of "Schoolhouse Rock" to the office of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Kyle Epstein, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, and Corinna Qualls, as the Constitution, deliver a copy of "Schoolhouse Rock" to the office of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

If you were in a Senate office building Thursday morning, you might have run across a costumed Statue of Liberty and Constitution roaming the halls.  

The characters were part of an entourage from the group Generation Progress , a part of the liberal Center for American Progress. Their mission was to visit the offices of Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee to push for hearings, debate and votes on President Barack Obama’s forthcoming nomination to the Supreme Court.  

To make the point, the group distributed copies — on VHS tapes, no less — of the educational “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons to staff in the various offices. The effort came shortly before Senate Democratic leadership held its latest media event to blast the decision by Senate Republicans not to consider any Obama nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Antonin Scalia.  

“We want to show these obstructionists that young people want a fully functioning judiciary branch, and don’t have any taste for the hyper-partisan maneuvering holding our democracy hostage,” Maggie Thompson, the executive director of Generation Progress, said in a statement.

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