Reid's power play

Posted: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:31 PM by Carrie Dann
Filed Under: Congress, Economy

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Between Monday afternoon and today, the financial market "bailout" bill went from a down-to-the-wire failure in the House to an expected passage in the Senate.

How did Harry Reid do it?

With the economic rescue package facing an uncertain fate in the House, Reid decided to commandeer the process. The House routinely acts first on large funding bills like the bailout package, but with bipartisan support already solidified in the Senate, Reid jumped to the front of the line.

"There are a few people in the House who'd rather we did this another way," Reid said this morning on the Senate floor. "But we've tried other ways. I say to my friends in the House of Representatives, we've got to get this done."

He went on to explain that the nation's founding fathers designed Congress in a way to create friction between the two chambers. "We get a lot of stuff from the House that we don't like the way they've written it. But that's who they are," he said. "And they don't like what we send them."

"They [the House] think that they could have done a better job... and maybe they could have. But this is what we've sent them," Reid said (under the assumption the Senate passes the bill tonight.) No member of Congress is "happy about taking this dramatic and expensive step" to bail out the financial markets, he added, but time is short.

The decision to make such a power play was bipartisan. Reid was joined by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in the decision to move first. Speaking after Reid on the floor, McConnell said, "we believe we've crafted a way to go forward to get us back on track. This is the only way to get the right kind of solution for the American people."

(For you Constitutional scholars, by the way, Reid was able to grab ahold of the bill, a "revenue raiser" usually required to leave the starting gate on the House and not the Senate side of the Hill, by a procedural provision that allows the Senate to take an old House bill that it never passed, scratch out the text and drop in new language--in this case the bailout bill.)

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Comments

IVE FALLEN AND I CANT GET UP
this is FUNNY

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/01/mccain-gets-lost-on-stage_n_130868.html

Nj (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:42 PM)

no jo, no bo, nj...aka Donna, Lincroft, NJ,

How tough is it to have abandoned your economics bluster for your ACORN rantings?

Will the Palin diehards have the courage to watch tommorow night? Why not?

Because you know your candidate is not ready for prime time?

Vote Obama/Biden.

Sherlock Holmes (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:44 PM)

WOW! Leadership from the Democratic Senate with bipartisan support from the Republicans! We must be in a crisis. Is this a portent for an Obama Administration?

Don Judson, Woodburn, OR (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:44 PM)

"May you live in interesting times..."

DV, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:45 PM)

Great job Harry! Your next primary is in 2010. Better hope this works. Because the voters suddenly developed a memory and if it turns out you just raided the treasury, well... job performance reviews can really suck sometimes.

Demosthenes112358 (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:48 PM)

Reid showed he had more of a brain in his head than Pelosi.Kept his comments to the legislation and didn't try to make it a campaign spot for obama

Bob, Knoxville,Tn (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:52 PM)

If the democrates would quit adding things to the bill it would get passed much quicker. Democrates do not needs to give ACORN 500 million dollars.

janice, stockton, ca (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:52 PM)

Yesterday I posted:

Elect Obama,
Dump Pelosi,
Grow a pair for Reid.

One down, two to go.

Man Size Safe, Portland, Texas (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:55 PM)

Everyone in the senate is owned by some corporate entity or another and it shows, the time for corporate welfare and socialized financial markets needs to come to an end. The nation doesn't need a bail-out, just a handful of greedy corrupt investors do, the House needs to just stamp "return to sender" on the senates ridiculous money grab of a bill and hang tough.

MK,MO (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:57 PM)

Reid should spend more time educating the public and getting public support for this bill rather than losing some democratic seats in the house. Bush might have screwed up the first class on current economy 101 but the school is still open. The public just needs a new instructor.

Elmer, Seattle (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:57 PM)

That's great - Harry Reid FINALLY decides to do something. Only IT IS THE WRONG THING! This bail out of Wall Street (yes, that is what it is - period) is the "wrong bill at the wrong time" to paraphrase Obama.

We need a new bill that is well thought out, like the one George Soros presented today. We need to take care of the taxpayers and the economy. This bill just puts the collapse off a little longer and allows Wall Street to steal even more on the way down.

Disgusting.

john, alpharetta, ga (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:05 PM)

Maybe what they don't get is that the people are against the bailout, and the system seems like it's finally working the way it's supposed to: elected representatives following the will of the people. Where the people's will is uniformly wrong, or muddled in some way, sure we elect people who can make tough and informed decisions and take the heat from constituents who disagree, but public opinion seems firmly against a bailout at this point.

After all, how can the freezing of the credit markets scare us? People who've filed for bankruptcy, lost their homes, or have poor credit card scores don't expect to be able to get loans at the snap of a finger, or get a new car or house anytime they want. Wall Street dropped a record number of points, and what did I notice most? That gas is cheaper than it's been in weeks.

Instead of saying we have to hurry, why don't they say why? Some of us would rather send a message to Wall Street that they can't take these big risks in the future and expect us to bail them out.

Chris, MI (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:08 PM)

I hate to think of one red penny going to these
robber barons, but here we are with no choice. There are people like me out here that know without constant
oversite our $ will end up in the hands of the mega rich. We do have to protect our small busineses so they can continue to do business and pay their employees and buy their materials. Maybe the repukes
will suck it up and sign the bill. Everyone knows they
are just scared their constituents will vote them out this year, they really should anyway.

marty

marty holloman,columbia,s.c. (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:10 PM)

Something needs to be posted here about McCain's visit to Iowa. He sounded really grumpy. Is the pressure getting to him? He tried to spin some BS about Palin but nobody buys it any more. We've seen enough to know better. She's out of her league.

Keith, PA (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:13 PM)

This is good strategy on the part of Reid and McConnell. It will produce a confrontation with house ultra-conservatives that leads from strength and tells them they are at odds with the nation. It tells them that if they defeat this bill you can probably stick a fork in the Republican party.

Mike, Texoma (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:16 PM)

A day ago I read an interesting article out of a Spanish publication that simply said that America finds itself without any leadership. Within that empty space one emerged. To all those who voted no because they were concerned about their votes in the election, I just hope they lose for demonstrating that they are not the leaders people elected them to be.

mexed, san antonio, texas (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:22 PM)

The House should always act first on spending bills. Reid is out of line with his actions. And yes, it is impeachable.

Tollie Grant, Vicksburg, VA (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:27 PM)

"Maybe what they don't get is that the people are against the bailout"

If you read/listen to them, you will notice it's mainly because:

1) They are saying what they have been told to say by party officials and peers and

2) They really dont understand what is going on.

A majority of people havent really bothered to look into what a this bill actually is. It is obvious because they are still calling it a bail-out. And since these people wont take the time to read the bill, or at the very least it's precis...or at least go look up some information on their own, they will continue to believe what they are told. The most amusing ones are the 'Capitalism/Free Market' good crowd. While some for of capitalism is best, pure capitalism, like pure communism, doesnt work. Why, you ask? Beacuse human beings, being the greedy power grubbers, are part of the equation. If we relied on a totally free market, corportations would be the ruling parties, 98% of us would be in poverty and most of the environment would be destroyed for the sake of mineral/resource exploitation all in the name of aquiring wealth.

So, yes, there has to be a socialist element. It's a part of life and it's a part of the system. Believing otherwise denotes a lack of understanding of the real world...or that you are wealthy already.

This 'bail-out' is just one of those painful facts that need to happen. It will happen as soon as the idiots in congress stop grandstanding for ignorant constituents and get on with doing their job. The trick is passing one that will help the most people and have a mechanism to recover most if not all of the money.

DV, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:34 PM)

Name one government/country that functions on pure capitalism. That is, no government infuence, regulations, controls at all. Drug trade and black markets dont count.

DV, CA (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:38 PM)

It's nice to see someone is Washington taking a leadership role in all of this. While I'm sure no one really wants to vote for this bill, something must be done. Kudos to the leadership in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, for stepping in to rescue this much needed bill. I think we've seen what inaction and partisan fights bring: -777 points in one day. I hope that rank and file members of the House will follow the senators lead and pass a bill ASAP.

Megan McIntyre, Tampa, FL (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:42 PM)

Pelosi did not do anything wrong in that speech.She spoke the truth.Lot was at stake for democrats who were dumped with the reckless rescue plan with tax payer's money and she was smart to involve the Republicans and expose them.What she did not only took away a campaign slogan (there were already RNC ads blaming the democrats for the bail out bill) for the republicans,on the other hand put them on the defensive.The republicans were so frustrated that Pelosi made them look like pussies and so they are trying to villify her.The democrats will thank her when it is all over and they find themselves with improved majority!

Vish,Roseville,CA (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:45 PM)

It's about time the Leaderhip Party in Congress steps up to the plate. Oh...I know this play well in Baseball...it is called a "Suicide Squeeze Bunt" to advance the runners. Kudos to both (R) and (D) Members of the Senate today for working together!

Barbara C- Fort Lauderdale, FL (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:46 PM)

This is a disaster, and one which hopefully ALL American's will remember in a few short weeks.

Please vote out any bums that vote yes for this colossal theft and fraud being perpetrated on us as taxpayers.

Paul F (Sent Wednesday, October 01, 2008 2:50 PM)

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