ABC News producer Zach Wolf said he was given the middle finger by
Republican Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), when a fellow reporter asked why
the senator had put a hold on a federal highway bill that has
furloughed more than 2,000 federal workers.

Wolf didn't elaborate, but Tweeted, "Jim Bunning just flipped your
trusty Senate producer the bird as we pursued him onto the Senators
only elevator."

"An Irate Jim Bunning kicks me off the elevator "This is a
Senators-only elevator!" Off-camera: He flipped the bird," he wrote.

AP notes: "The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a
decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of
legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit
programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight
Sunday."

"The extension of transportation programs was part of a larger package
of government programs that also expired Sunday, including
unemployment benefits for about 400,000 Americans."

Pressed to rescind his persistent objections Friday to extending the
jobless benefits, Bunning reportedly responded by saying "tough ****."

This isn't the first time Bunning has been reported as behaving oddly.

Salon noted in 2004: "It's no secret in Kentucky that Sen. Jim
Bunning, a Republican who was expected to coast to reelection on Nov.
2, has been acting strange. Over the past few months, Bunning has
angrily pushed away reporters, exchanged testy words with a questioner
at a Rotary Club and stuck to brief, heavily scripted remarks at
campaign events, delivered in a halting monotone. The former major
league baseball star now travels the Bluegrass State with a special
police escort, at taxpayer expense. His explanation? Al-Qaida may be
out to get him."