Today in Washington D. C. - Jan 8, 2009 - Is Reid Going Senile?

The Senate reconvened in the morning will at 1 PM meet in the House chamber in a joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes for president and vice president.

Yesterday, Reid said that the first significant bill the Senate will take up is an omnibus public lands bill (S. 22), which Sen. Coburn had objected to last year. Reid wants senators to vote on the bill over the weekend. Reid also said yesterday that after the lands bill is completed, he wants the Senate to take up another retread from last year, the Lilly Ledbetter bill, which is designed to eliminate statutes of limitations on suing employers over discrimination.

From Senate & News Sources: Though the 111^th Congress only began on Tuesday, Senate Democrats have already gotten off to a rocky start. It can’t be the opening that Democrats were envisioning in November. One has to wonder, is Sen. Harry Reid is getting senile? At a minimum, his lack of leadership continued to damage the Democrat brand. Especially since so many other more qualified Democratic senators serve in Congress. Consider the following Reid lead "soap opera." The Washington Post reports, this week that “[Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid has endured a series of stumbles that demonstrated the limitations of his newly expanded powers. . . . There is little question that some of Reid’s problems are of his own making, a product of his shoot-from-the-hip style and penchant for bold declarations that do not always pan out.”

The situation with the Illinois U.S. Senate seat illustrates the point. Politico points out, “Harry Reid is poised to let Roland Burris take a seat in the Senate — an embarrassing about-face for a Democratic leader at the pinnacle of his power.” Especially so after releasing a letter last month signed by all 50 Democrat senators from the last Congress saying that no one appointed to that seat by the current Illinois governor would be seated. Politico continues, “It was an unwelcome and persistent distraction for Democrats, who have been trying to focus the public’s attention on their ambitious agenda for the 111th Congress — and especially their plans for dealing with the sagging economy. And it only got worse as several prominent Democratic senators, including Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said Burris should be seated.”

As the situation with the Illinois seat played out, Democrats attempted to begin the process of considering legislation in the new Congress. Instead of focusing on the ailing economy, Reid chose instead to push what The Washington Post described as “a low-profile federal lands bill.” Reid harbors ill-will against Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) for rightfully holding up the bill last year over concerns about spending and parochial (pork) projects in the bill. A issue that President Elect says he doesn't want to see in a stimulus bill. Rather than negotiate with Coburn, Reid opts to attempt to ram the bill through. The Post reports, “Reid issued another threat yesterday and vowed to hold weekend votes [on the bill], a common tactic for Senate leaders but not one generally issued on the second legislative day of the year.”

Still not focusing on the economy, Reid announced that after discussing the lands bill the Senate would work on a partisan bill favored by trial lawyers that was rejected last year. Known as the Ledbetter bill, it is designed to overturn a recent Supreme Court ruling. The National Association of Manufacturers says the bill “would eliminate current time limits for filing almost all discrimination charges” against employers, unleashing a flurry of lawsuits.

On Tuesday, Reid said, “[B]oth parties learned an important lesson over the past 2 years: When we allow ourselves to retreat into the tired, well-worn trenches of partisanship, when we fail to reach for common ground, when we are unable, in the words of President-elect Obama, to disagree without being disagreeable, we diminish our ability to accomplish real change.” But as the The New York Times reflects, Reid has led with “the same-old" “partisan feud”in the Senate on Wednesday. That doesn’t sound like the “real change” that Reid mentioned two days ago. However, it does sounds like a person who being lucid one moment as to the proper agenda then has a mental lapse and slips back into the "well-worn trenches of partisanship." See also: Reid reverses, says Burris may get seat

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Tags: Congressional Pork, Harry Reid, lands bill, Tom Coburn, trial lawyers, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!