Yesterday, a hearing on federal financial transparency and government accountability was curtailed, as Sen. John "Cranky" McCain (R-Kindergarten) stomped his feet and pitched a fit when his team lost a vote on a motion to proceed to debate on the health care reconciliation bill.

The Sunlight Foundation's Executive Director Ellen Miller was just a few words into her testimony at a hearing entitled, "Removing the Shroud of Secrecy: Making Government More Transparent and Accountable," when she was interrupted by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) informing her that he was being forced to shut it down. The Sunlight Foundation Blog has a post up explaining the whole fiasco:

Senate rules require that hearings held after 2 p.m. be approved by unanimous consent to continue. After the Democratic majority won passage of a motion to proceed to debate the reconciliation bill by a vote of 56-40, Republicans refused to consent to the continuation of hearings. The Republicans also lost in an attempt to block the reconciliation package when Senate Parliamentarian ruled against an objection to the way an excise tax is used to fund the health care law.

Here's the video: