Free Republic

One unfortunate day in the future, America will again have a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. And when that day happens, conservatives had better start digging foxholes, because their worst nightmare will be the majority leader. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, the former hyper-partisan majority leader (and present minority leader) announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of his term in 2017. He named Chuck Schumer, D-New York, as his heir apparent. As a Westerner from a blue state that could flip to red at any time, Reid was forced to take account of libertarian views. Nevada is,...

LAS VEGAS — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's decision to retire next year leaves no clear successor in his home state of Nevada, where a popular Republican governor appears reluctant to change jobs and the pending loss of Reid's clout in Washington is causing anxiety over who might replace him. As of Friday, the list of potential candidates came down to Gov. Brian Sandoval and everyone else. The political centrist who was easily re-elected last year is likely to face intense pressure from national Republicans and business interests to pick up where Reid leaves off on Capitol Hill. Sandoval didn't...

Well, theyÂ’re not horrible. But Democrats canÂ’t be too happy about their present chances of replacing outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid with another Democrat in the U.S. Senate could certainly be better than they are right now. Reid was no lock to win reelection even if he decided to run again in 2016. He polls as poorly today as he did in 2010, when the Nevada electorate appeared ready to jettison the Silver StateÂ’s longtime senator, but a majority of voters just couldnÂ’t bring themselves to pull the lever for Sharron Angle. At the yearÂ’s open, veteran Nevada...

EXCLUSIVE–FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: DOJ SHOULD OPEN A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO HARRY REID PUSHING EB-5 VISA EXPANSION Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he intends to retire at the end of his term in 2017. But he may still face legal pressure before he leaves. Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, a leading legal expert on the prosecution and defense of white collar criminals, tells Breitbart News there is enough public evidence to launch a criminal investigation of Reid. “Here’s the issue,” diGenova tells Breitbart News in an exclusive interview. “Because his son was involved representing the SLS Casino and Hotel...

WASHINGTON — Senator Harry Reid, the tough tactician who has led Senate Democrats since 2005, will not seek re-election next year, bringing an end to a three-decade congressional career that culminated with his push of President Obama’s ambitious agenda against fierce Republican resistance. Mr. Reid, 75, who suffered serious eye and facial injuries in a Jan. 1 exercise accident at his Las Vegas home, said he had been contemplating retiring from the Senate for months. He said his decision was not attributable either to the accident or to his demotion to minority leader after Democrats lost the majority in November’s...

Many of the key figures cited in a scathing inspector general’s report this week are allies of Hillary Rodham Clinton, marking the latest in a series of stumbles for the former first lady and secretary of state that likely forced her to delay her planned presidential campaign announcement.A Democratic strategist familiar with her team’s thinking said they are scrambling to limit the damage and readjust the campaign rollout schedule after the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general revealed an apparent cronyism scandal that ensnared Mrs. Clinton’s brother, Anthony Rodham, and two of her political confidants, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and former...

The No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department intervened several times in projects with connections to insiders, including Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and a brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a report issued by the department's watchdog Tuesday. Alejandro Mayorkas, while head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, created an "appearance of favoritism" in a program that offers visas to wealthy foreigners willing to invest in American companies, the report says, though it stops short of saying Mayorkas was guilty of wrongdoing. More than 15 whistle-blowers came forward to complain that Mayorkas was giving special treatment to...

The Senate’s top Democrat was more deeply involved than previously known in an effort to secure U.S. visas for Chinese investors in a Las Vegas casino despite the concerns of career federal officials, according to an inspector general report released on Tuesday. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and his staff received weekly updates from top officials at U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding the status of visas for investors in the SLS Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, the report reveals. Executives at the casino’s parent company, a client of Reid’s son Rory, donated thousands of dollars to...

The No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department improperly intervened on behalf of foreign investors in three cases involving the U.S. government soliciting investments in exchange for American visas, the agency's inspector general said Tuesday. Investigators said he helped secure the visas, and created the appearance of favoritism and special access. The investigation could not suggest a motive for the official's involvement.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid helped steer billions of federal tax dollars to companies supporting a green energy group run by two of his former staff members and a current campaign operative.The Nevada Democrat pushed for millions of dollars in grants and billions more in federal loan guarantees for corporations that donated to the Clean Energy Project, a nonprofit founded by a pair of former staffers with close ties to both Reid and to a major Democratic PAC associated with the senator, Lachlan Markay of the Washington Free Beacon reported.One such company, California-based Fulcrum Bioenergy, received a hefty federal grant...

Corporate donors to a green energy nonprofit operated by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D., Nev.) former staffers and a current campaign operative have received billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees and grant money as a result of Reid’s advocacy. Fulcrum Bioenergy began contributing to the Clean Energy Project (CEP) in 2013. One year later, the Nevada Democrat steered tens of millions of dollars in federal grant money to the California biofuel company.

Politics and Policy Senator Reid Scores Early Victory as Opposition Leader But minority leader warns fellow Democrats against taking victory laps after homeland security win By Siobhan Hughes and Michael R. Crittenden WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats think they have had a good couple of weeks, including a win in a battle over immigration and homeland security funding, but their leader is warning members of his caucus against taking any victory laps. “We cannot be gloating,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said he told his caucus at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday. “We have a lot of things we have to...

Key Senate Democrats led by Minority Leader Harry Reid announced their opposition Wednesday to fast action on a bill giving Congress final say on any nuclear deal with Iran. The development appeared likely to upend GOP plans to move swiftly on the bill following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Tuesday speech to Congress in which he railed against the emerging agreement. "I think we are better off on things relating to the Iran deal to wait until we see if there can be something negotiated," Reid said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And if there is something negotiated...

The Keystone XL pipeline got an emphatic endorsement Monday from a powerful backer of President Barack Obama who questioned the handling of the file. To billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the delay is a thumbing of the nose at Canada. "I would have passed Keystone," Buffett said in an interview with CNBC. "I think that we have an enormous interest in working with Canada, as they have in working with us. That oil is going to get sold. If we make it more difficult for them, who knows how they'll feel about making things more difficult for us someday." Because Buffett...

Harry Reid is taking unprecedented steps to block Senate Republicans, even though his actions will result in nothing but procedural delay. In another example of Democrats playing the role of obstructionists, Harry Reid will force the Senate to go through procedural hurdles to delay Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from bringing up the president’s Keystone XL veto for an override vote. Last week, President Obama vetoed the popular bipartisan Keystone XL Pipeline bill passed by the Senate. This week, the Senate is planning a vote to override the president’s veto. Democrats, led by Minority Leader Harry Reid, are set to revoke...

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is wearing special glasses as he recovers from injuries suffered in an exercise accident in December. The most powerful Democrat in Congress could face his toughest reelection race yet next year. Last week Gravis Insights released a new poll of Minority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nevada) 2016 race and found him trailing two lesser-known challengers: state Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) and former Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki (R). Gravis has a poor track record as a pollster, but its results here are in line with other surveys that have repeatedly suggested Reid could be the most vulnerable...

A solar-power project set to open next month in Nevada has fried 130 birds during tests and will soon join another solar farm in California in avian incineration. If as many birds being burned by solar power farms built in the U.S. were to wash up on our beaches soaked in crude oil from a leaking offshore well, the outrage would be deafening. But as with the wind turbines that now cover acre upon acre of former "pristine" countryside, what amount to avian Cuisinarts slicing and dicing everything that flies, including endangered species, only the crickets are chirping. House Minority...

A month into the new Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) may still be getting used to life in the majority. Upon welcoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) back on the Senate floor after a January exercising accident, McConnell reverted to an old habit of referring to his Democratic counterpart as the "majority leader." "Let me say first, I want to welcome back our colleague, the majority leader. He's had a challenging month, and we're happy to see him back here in the Senate and wish him well in his recovery, which looks as if it's coming along...

By Alexander Bolton - 02/24/15 02:34 PM EST Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said the Senate may vote “very quickly” on a clean Department of Homeland Security funding bill.Days before a shutdown of the critical agency, McConnell said he would “be happy" to pass a clean DHS funding bill before the Senate considers a narrow measure overturning President Obama’s most recent executive actions on immigration. ADVERTISEMENT His plan, if accepted by Senate Democrats and House Republicans, would prevent Homeland Security from shutting down on Saturday.McConnell noted the Senate is scheduled to vote Friday on legislation he introduced this...

The 73-year-old brother of Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was arrested Monday after he was found in a parked vehicle in the dirt median of a state highway in southern Nevada. A Nevada Highway Patrol officer, believing a car had broken down, found Larry Reid sitting inside the Lexus SUV shortly after noon Monday. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Loy Hixson said Larry Reid was arrested and released after spending a night at the Clark County jail. He faces misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and battery on an officer, for driving across a median and not wearing a seatbelt,...