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Back in the dog days of George W. Bush's second term, when each month seemed to bring new lows for the president's approval ratings, there was almost always this consolation: The surveys would show that Congress was even less popular than he was. In general, that's going to be the advantage an executive enjoys over a collective body such as a legislature. Hence the decision by Barack Obama to take a page out of Harry Truman's 1948 playbook and campaign for re-election against a "do-nothing Congress." Given his record, it may be his wisest course. It's also a gift to...

Reid’s floor maneuvers leave some Senate Democrats frustratedBy Alexander Bolton - 02/07/12 05:15 AM ET Some Democrats are grumbling over how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has run the floor this year. The frustration is felt mostly among junior lawmakers, who want more of a role in decision-making and have yet to resign themselves to the traditional pace of the Senate, where seniority rules and lawmakers often have to wait years to have significant influence. They say Reid’s style leaves them feeling out of the loop. Colleagues have second-guessed Reid’s decision to greenlight a deal with Republicans on the...

Taxes: The Senate hasn't passed a budget in over a thousand days, yet it has time to consider one member's bill to make the no-growth logic of the administration's favorite billionaire the law of the land. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from the state ranking among the highest in foreclosures and unemployment, would prefer leaving the ship of state to drift rudderlessly. "We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it's done, we don't need to do it," Reid told reporters Friday. Reid's idea of getting things done is punting to a supercommittee...

It's been more than 1,000 days since the Senate has passed a budget, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is unconcerned. In fact, he says he has no plans to bring a budget to the floor in 2012, either. He argues the 2012 budget is already done because last summer's debt-ceiling deal included a few spending caps. Essentially, Reid wonders: Why do we need a long-term spending plan when we can stumble into some spending caps here and there? The Hill was first to this story: “We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year —...

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) had a strong message Saturday for President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “Get the hell out.”

As our intrepid president prepares to lecture Congressional Republicans for rudely refusing to sign on to every last element of his astonishingly irresponsible tax-and-spend agenda, Senate Democrats can rest assured that Obama will spare them the humiliation of mentioning today's truly pathetic anniversary.  Yes, January 24, 2012, marks the one-thousandth day since the United States Senate -- controlled by Democrats since 2007 -- last introduced a budget.  Harry Reid's crew evidently couldn't care less that passing annual fiscal blueprints is a statutory requirement.  To explain away their intentional negligence, Democrats have attempted to (surprise!) blame Republicans for obstructing the process. ...

President Barack Obama will deliver his fourth State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 24th–the very day that marks the 1,000th day since the Democrat-controlled United States Senate last bothered to pass a budget...

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement today:“I am pleased that we were able to resolve the major obstacles to an agreement in a manner that protects American workers, and clears the way for a long-term extension of the Federal Aviation Administration. While some issues remain, there is no reason we cannot resolve them in the coming days and avoid any risk of another FAA shutdown.“Every issue does not have to be a fight. This is a good example of the common-sense results that Democrats and Republicans can produce when they work together, and put the...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

Reid on bipartisanship: Republicans, drop the Tea Party 'extremism' Published January 15, 2012 | FoxNews.com Saying it's time to rebuild America by working together to create jobs, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday prepared for Congress' return to Washington this week with a warning to Republicans to leave Tea Party "extremism" behind and "learn what legislation is all about." "I would hope that they understand that everything doesn't have to be a fight. Legislation is an art of working together, building consensus, compromise. And I hope that the Tea Party doesn't have the influence in this next year that...

MR. GREGORY: Well, almost a year ago, I talked to you. You thought the tea party would die out as the economy got better. You, you weren't right about that. SEN. REID: Well, I think the tea party's dying out as the economy's getting better slowly. MR. GREGORY: You do think that? SEN. REID: Oh, sure, no question about it. And, and, and you--and, and you... MR. GREGORY: Well, we just talked about their, their muscular impact on the process. SEN. REID: Well, but that's during the past year. I would hope that the two Republican leaders have learned what...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a man whose political success is largely attributable to the aura of befuddled incompetence he uses to disarm his adversaries, was a failed Watergate baby. In 1974, a slew of often sanctimonious and very liberal Democratic politicians rode the tide of understandable national disgust with Richard Nixon to Congress. Then the lieutenant governor of Nevada, Reid ran for the U.S. Senate, hoping to tie his opponent to the "imperial presidency" that had allegedly sprung up ex nihilo under Nixon. Given Nevada's inherent conservatism (at least back then), Reid cast himself as an incorruptible champion of...

Majority Leader Harry Reid may get the last laugh on Senate Republicans who are vowing to oppose adjournment for the long August recess. Reid is considering simply adjourning Friday for the weekend and scheduling very short "pro forma" sessions throughout the August recess. The move would not only prevent President Bush from making recess appointments on controversial executive nominations, it would short circuit efforts by Senate Republicans who would like to filibuster any adjournment resolution in the Senate on Friday night. Senate aides caution that no final decisions have been made on the schedule, but the pro-forma sessions are under...

WASHINGTON - President Obama and his top campaign officials have mapped out a new 2012 reelection strategy: run against an unpopular Congress. Obama, whose job approval polls have been relentlessly stuck at around 43 percent for much of last year, thinks he can convince enough voters that Congress is the cause of all the economic ills that still plague our country. That's right, the man Mitt Romney has been calling "the great complainer," "the great blamer," "the great excuse giver," will run on a campaign platform that his policies are blameless. Its all the fault of Congress who won't pass...

President Obama may best be known as the president who took kicking the can down the road to new, unimagined levels. Obama has demonstrated an unusual ability to delay decision-making, to obfuscate issues, to divert attention from matters of critical importance, and his preference to take half measures when pushed to the brink is now well known. Obama is the Grand Master of Kicking the Can Down the Road. But in 2012 that seems likely to change—the can is going to kick back. The problems besetting our nation can only be ignored and obfuscated for so long—and the past three...

On Friday's CBS Evening News, as correspondent Sharyl Attkisson filed a report to inform viewers that the House of Representatives had approved the Senate plan for a two-month payroll tax cut extension, Attkisson included a clip of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid directing a "lecture" at and blaming House Republican freshmen for the delay, as she recounted his hope that they had "learned a lesson." While the report included two soundbites from Democrats that allowed them to put forth some of their message - in the form of one clip each from Reid and President Obama - the CBS correspondent...

Flush from last night’s victory, Harry Reid floated the possibility at a press conference this morning that Dems could revive the idea of a millionaire surtax when the talks begin over the year long payroll tax cut extension next year. “I’ve talked to Senate Republicans, plural, who think there should be a fair tax on rich people,” Reid said. “I’m going to make sure that my conferees understand that this could be part of what we try to do.” Given that Dems dropped the millionaire surtax during the talks over the payroll tax cut earlier this month, you’d be forgiven...

PARKERSBURG - A temporary extension of the Social Security payroll tax has infuriated a West Virginia senator. Sen. Joe Manchin said the two-month extension is a failure for the American people. "I am furious and disgusted that anyone could imagine this stopgap measure is the best that Congress could offer hard-working Americans, seniors and the unemployed," Manchin, a Democrat, said. "Delaying a decision for another two months makes no sense, especially when Congress will not be working for one of those months. Only in Washington would you get a month off for failing to do your job. West Virginians and...

Once again, Congress is playing high-stakes poker with a precarious economy and the lives of struggling Americans who live paycheck to paycheck - that is, if they're lucky enough to have a job. [Snip] In a mean-minded, take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum to the "people's House," Senate Majority leader Harry Reid made it clear he didn't care what the House did with the bill - the Senate was finished for the year. That's not the way Congress usually has operated over its 222 years, especially on must-pass legislation that may affect the lives of 160 million working Americans. In such cases, the Senate...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democratic lawmaker said on Monday that he would not start negotiating a one-year payroll tax cut extension until House Republicans passed the short-term tax cut that has already been approved by the Senate.

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today issued the following statement observing the end of the Iraq War: “The end of the Iraq War marks a historic day in our country. I commend President Obama for keeping his promise to remove all American troops from Iraq by the end of this year. After nine years of conflict, this is the right decision at the right time.  “Our experience in Iraq has left us humbled by the strategic miscalculations that made the war more difficult and costly than necessary, but also proud of the overwhelming valor and courage displayed by...

Fiscal Policy: President Obama tried to get Republicans to oppose a payroll tax extension, but Senate Democrats are the ones now fighting it. When liberals propose tax cuts, it's almost never on the level. When a beleaguered President Obama appeared before Congress in September to propose yet another massive stimulus spending program, including a payroll tax-cut extension paired with a "millionaire surtax," it was viewed as a shrewd political move Republicans were sure to oppose. So, why are his Senate Democrats now determined to kill payroll tax-cut legislation? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been falling all over himself this...

Some politicians claim that politicians create jobs. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, "My job is to create jobs." What hubris! Government has no money of its own. All it does is take from some people and give to others. That may create some jobs, but only by leaving less money in the private sector for job creation. Actually, it's worse than that. Since government commandeers scarce resources by force and doesn't have to peddle its so-called services on the market to consenting buyers, there's no feedback mechanism to indicate if those services are worth more to people than what...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is holding a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill hostage to win leverage in a separate fight over taxes, GOP lawmakers claimed Tuesday. The GOP members said Reid is ordering Democratic conferees on the spending bill to not sign off on a deal so that he can keep the House in session to work on legislation extending the payroll tax backed by President Obama. The House is set to vote on the payroll bill on Tuesday, but Senate Democrats oppose the measure. If the omnibus moved forward, the House could move its payroll bill and...

The State Department has released a statement that is favorable to the Keystone XL pipeline...

So here's the latest Democratic growth plan: Pay for a temporary tax cut that has already proven not to create jobs with a permanent tax increase that almost certainly will cost jobs. That's the essence of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to finance a one-year payroll tax cut with a 3.25% income tax surcharge on upper-income Americans that would last for at least 10 years. Mr. Reid knows it can't pass the House, and as we went to press it looked likely to fail even in the Senate. But this is the way it goes in the Senate these...

Democrats in Congress have proposed a new racial profiling ban that could thwart state and local laws on immigration enforcement, such as the controversial Arizona law currently tied up in federal court, by witholding federal funding for state and local law enforcement agencies engaged in "racial profiling" and empowering the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file lawsuits against state and local governments. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and lead sponsor Ben Cardin, D-Md., are pushing the End Racial Profiling Act of 2011, which would, among other things, "withhold federal law enforcement funding if local and state governments failed to adopt effective...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: So the inside-the-Beltway crowd is still wringing its hands today over the fact that there was no budget deal. The super committee failed to come to an agreement, and I'm blue in the face telling you that it behaved exactly as it was supposed to behave. It ended up doing exactly what it was supposed to do, and you're blue in the face hearing it. They were not supposed to come to an agreement. There was not supposed to be any kind of a deal. And, lo and behold, Obama held a five-minute press availability today. What...

Does anyone know if the Obama administration policies along with Harry Reid's efforts been enough to drive out the majority of Illegal Mexicans in Nevada? Nevada is devastated economically and many have said that a good majority of Illegals have returned to their homeland as a result of the Anti-American HOPE and CHANGE REGIME!

You have to wonder which hole in the sand Harry Reid has his head buried in.  Yesterday, in comments on the floor of the Senate, the Democrat Leader said the following: "While it's proper to guard against and remove onerous regulations, and we need to do that, my Republican friends have yet to produce a single shred of evidence that the regulations they hate so much do the broad economic harms they claim.  That's because there aren't any."Reid's denial is in large part his poor explanation for denying the Senate even one vote on any of the "Forgotten Fifteen" regulation...

When I left the White House beat to cover Congress, I told people what the biggest difference was between the two beats. People in the White House and Congress lie to you, I would say; the difference is that on the Hill it’s not the same lie told by the same seven people. That was true until the super committee was created. Now, instead of politicians lying to their constituents and reporters, they are lying to themselves. Not rationalizing, or trimming the truth, or speaking in euphemisms. Lying. Bald. Faced. Lying. The super committee is a thought experiment gone awry....

Washington, D.C.—Nevada Senator Harry Reid issued today the following statement after the Senate approved the VOW to Hire Heroes Act by vote of 94-1. This bill encourages businesses to hire unemployed veterans and creates training programs to help them transition into the civilian workforce. The bill is part of President Obama’s jobs agenda.“This Veterans Day Congress pays tribute to those who have put their lives on the line to defend our country with deeds as well as words. I am glad Senate Republicans joined us to pass legislation that will help spur hiring among the nearly 900,000 out-of-work veterans in...

Washington, D.C. - Nevada Senator Harry Reid issued the following statement after the release of unemployment figures for October. According to the Department of Labor U.S. payrolls increased by 80,000 and unemployment fell from 9.1 percent to 9.0 percent.“Americans are still hurting and Congress needs to remain focused on creating jobs. Unfortunately, just yesterday Senate Republicans voted unanimously to block a bill that would have put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work –including 3,300 Nevadans– rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges and modernizing our air traffic control systems. This proposal was supported by the vast majority of Americans;...

What is Mitt Romney peddling? If you said a bicycle you'd be partially right. Partially right just like Mitt's politics. He seems to have the Obamaesque ability to take both sides of any issue simultaneously. The establishment Republican intelligentsia seem to think that's a winning combination. But what about the third rail of Mitt's faith? Numero uno Latter-Day Saint, Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, declared orthodox Christianity to be an abomination. That orthodox Christians would be reluctant to assist in raising the stock of a candidate belonging to the organization espousing this notion comes as a shock to many in right-wing...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and RINO Presidential candidate Mitt Romney have brought the many aspects of the breakaway LDS sect of Mormonism into the media spotlight. Energetic accusations and counter accusations, denials, coverup and obfuscation rule the discussion, all he while the forest is missed for the trees.I present here the most shocking evidence yet brought to bear against the christianity claims of mormons.Mormons believe Baal and Jupiter helped create the universe.A graven image of Baal at the Nauvoo Illinois LDS Temple.This is a photo of the very Jupiter Talisman that Emma Smith, Joseph's widow, claimed was his most...

Some of what you have heard Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say has been way off. Well ALG has found an infomercial that explains why. Check it out!

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following statement on Nevada's unemployment rate in September: “The unemployment rate remains far too high in Nevada.  We must continue our efforts to create good-paying jobs that can't be shipped overseas, such as the 300 jobs APAC yesterday announced it will bring to our state.“Last night, Republicans continued their obstruction by blocking a jobs bill that would support thousands of teachers and first responders in Nevada. These tactics for political gain are not going to help Nevada's economy recover, and I call on my Republican colleagues to put partisan politics aside...

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Occupy LA movement grew by the thousands Wednesday as unionized workers, caregivers and their patients joined the call for an end to corporate greed and Congress to put Americans back to work. The demonstrators held large signs, chanted loudly and blew whistles as they marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles to the steps of City Hall. Organized by the Service Employees International Union, the demonstration was in support of President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act....

“it’s very clear that private sector jobs have been doing fine. It’s the public sector jobs where we’ve lost huge numbers, and that’s what this legislation is all about.”

Harry Reid detonated his nuclear option to protect Barack Obama from his own jobs bill.  Now he and his caucus have to get ready for the fallout: Senate Republicans vow they will retaliate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to unilaterally change the Senate’s rules Thursday without prior warning or negotiation.Republican aides say their bosses will now be even more reluctant to allow the Senate to conduct routine business by unanimous consent, forcing Reid to gather 60 votes for even the most mundane matters.“Reid fired a major salvo and it’s hard to imagine a return shot won’t be...

Senate Republicans vow they will retaliate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to unilaterally change the Senate’s rules Thursday without prior warning or negotiation. Republican aides say their bosses will now be even more reluctant to allow the Senate to conduct routine business by unanimous consent, forcing Reid to gather 60 votes for even the most mundane matters. “Reid fired a major salvo and it’s hard to imagine a return shot won’t be fired. Maybe over the weekend they’ll come up with something and try to make it less worse than it already is,” said a Senate...

On Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered the so-called nuclear option — unilaterally changing Senate rules by a simple majority vote to stop the minority from forcing votes on uncomfortable amendments. It’s the same tactic the majority would use to undercut the minority’s ability to filibuster. And that’s why it’s called “nuclear” — it dramatically alters the balance of power between the majority and minority. It is not a step to be taken lightly. What great matter drove Reid to push the nuclear button? Apparently Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was threatening to force a vote on...

The U.S. Senate is often referred to as the world’s greatest deliberative body. But to anyone who caught even a few minutes of Thursday night’s meltdown in the Senate, it would be easy to think otherwise. The fight – in which Democrats invoked the ‘nuclear option’ and used a simple majority to curb the rights of the supermajority - on one level was about procedure. But years of division and partisanship contributed to emotions and rhetoric that ran high, highlighting that the Upper House in Congress might have, to some, turned into a fun house – more about games than...

In a shock development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a rarely-used procedural option informally called the “nuclear option” to change the Senate rules. The surprise move stunned Republicans, who did not expect Reid to bring heavy artillery to what had appeared to have been a hum-drum legislative knife fight. Reid appealed a ruling from the chair that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not need consent to force a vote on a motion to suspend the rules to consider an amendment after cloture has already been approved. The maneuver is highly arcane but momentous. If...

First, consider a few facts of life in Nevada. Harry Reid is the Boss Tweed of Nevada. He runs the state like a fiefdom where nothing of value goes untouched and “untaxed” by Boss Reid. A “green” energy company opening in Nevada could not have escaped his grasp even if it was founded by people not directly connected to him; but such is not the case with “Nevada Geothermal Power” In June 2010, Reid used his influence to arrange a Department of Energy “loan” of $98.5 million to Blue Mountain … a subsidiary of Nevada Geothermal Power (NGP). Aside from...

Confirming that one has to be a billionaire or at least a multi-millionaire to be an applicant for the Tax Czar position under the Teleprompted Wealth Readjuster, is the latest sheer class warfare idiocy out of tax expert du jour Harry Reid, who has proposed an overhaul of the Obama tax bill with one in which millionaires end up paying a 5% surtax. National Journal reports: "Senate Democrats will replace tax increases proposed by President Obama to pay for his $445 billion jobs bill with a more politically popular tax increase on millionaires, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said...

Senate Democrats are scrambling to rewrite portions of President Barack Obama's jobs bill, even as Obama tries to blame Republicans for Congress' failure to act. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell moved to call the president's bluff Tuesday by pushing for a quick Senate vote on the bill, but Democratic leader Harry Reid derailed the effort as all sides maneuvered for position in a potentially defining battle in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the Senate, Democrats made plans to jettison provisions that Obama recommended to pay for the $447 billion jobs bill, substituting them with a tax increase on millionaires, officials...

Senate Republicans offered to give President Barack Obama the vote he's sought on a jobs bill Tuesday, but the Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid, objected. "The least we can do for the president is give him a chance to have a vote on his proposal now as he has requested on numerous occasions," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. "The suggestion that Senate Republicans are not interested in voting on his jobs bill is not true." McConnell is no fan of Obama's jobs proposal, calling it a rehash of the president's 2009 stimulus package. Obama, meanwhile, is taking his appeal...