Leader McConnell taped a succinct response to the Democrats' attempts to pass the largest tax increase in history.

Watch and listen to Senator McConnell's video message on this issue.

Today's Wall Street Journal carried an excellent op-ed piece about our bipartisan efforts to pass a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes. Last night we passed a seven-year extension of moratorium which we expect will go to the White House for signature after passage by the House. We are hopeful this can be signed before November 1 when the current moratorium expires.

I've included the text of the piece below. I will continue to fight for a permanent moratorium but the most important thing for now is that we've held off any new taxes for the next seven years.

I thank all those who have written and called for their support.

Web Tax Triumph

Wall Street Journal editorial October 26, 2007

Internet consumers scored a victory in Washington last night, thanks to Senator John Sununu (R., N.H.), with big assists from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden. The Senate passed a seven-year extension of the Internet tax moratorium, with robust language that should stiff-arm even the most voracious state and local governments looking for loopholes to tax your email.

Mr. McConnell created negotiating leverage by forcing on to the Senate schedule a vote on Mr. Sununu's permanent Net tax ban. The last thing moratorium opponents wanted was to face an up-or-down vote on a permanent ban, which is why they recently cancelled a committee vote when it became clear they had underestimated the popularity of the tax moratorium. That's also why you can now ignore the letter on the preceding page, in which Senators Tom Carper (D., Del.) and Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) sing the praises of their short, loophole-ridden "moratorium" bill. They junked it last night and scrambled aboard the Sununu steamroller.

While accepting less than a permanent ban, Mr. Sununu and his pro- Internet allies won additional provisions authored by Mr. Wyden to protect consumers. A report yesterday from the Congressional Research Service revealed that the House had botched the drafting of its four-year extension by leaving open the possibility of new taxes on email services if they weren't marketed along with Internet access service. Kudos to Senators Sununu, McConnell and Wyden. If the House, as expected, passes the Senate bill early next week, President Bush can sign it into law before the current ban expires November 1.

I'm pleased to report the Senate today confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The confirmation process took longer than I had hoped but I believe we have an extremely qualified legal mind in Judge Southwick.  I extend my congratulations. 

You can read my earlier posts about Judge Southwick here and here.

Update: The YouTube video of a press conference on this issue is now available.  Just click the video above to watch it.