Reid faces challenges as Senate Dems transition to minority (Exempt backbencher's bathroom office)

The Hill ^ | 12/05/14 | Alexander Bolton

[Libloather]

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid faces a tough task as his conference transitions to the Senate minority next year.

The Nevada Democrat is leading a divided party smarting from a midterm election that saw Senate Democrats lose eight seats.

It includes a number of centrists who could be eager to cut deals with the new GOP majority, particularly after watching several centrist incumbents fall in the 2014 midterms.

But Reid must also lead liberals hoping to give Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who many Democrats viewed as an obstructionist over the last several years, a taste of his own medicine.

Reid must balance those interests, all while setting up his party to retake the majority in 2016, when a favorable map leaves Senate Republicans defending 24 seats, including several in states that would seem favorable to Democratic candidates.

And Reid must do so while preparing for his own reelection fight, which could be a tough contest against Nevada GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval.

So far, Reid has struck a conciliatory tone, diverging from House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).

Reid announced Tuesday that he would accept an omnibus spending bill crafted by House Republicans that would only fund the Department of Homeland Security for a few months, setting up a fight over immigration early next year.

Pelosi, by contrast, said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) should not count on Democrats to help pass the bill.

The senior Nevada Democrat has pledged not to retaliate against Republicans by blocking their legislative initiatives willy-nilly. But he does not plan to capitulate his party’s core principles, either, according to Senate Democratic sources.

Next year, Republicans will seek to pass tax reform, trade deals, healthcare reforms and energy legislation that will test Democratic unity.

“It’ll be interesting to watch to see how tightly they hang together,” said Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho). “I would suspect that those that are up in two years can hear footsteps and will be a lot more thoughtful about the process.”

Reid and other Democrats will remember the first few years of President George W. Bush’s administration, when Democratic defectors allowed Republicans to pass $1.7 trillion in tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. Although President Obama and his veto pen provide a backstop now, any legislation that makes it to his desk gives the GOP a starting point for future negotiations.

At a special two-hour meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus Wednesday to discuss the 2015 strategy, “there was a pretty consistent view across the ideological spectrum that we should seek common ground on things that benefits the middle class but not abandon our principles,” said a senior Democratic aide.

“Not a single person said we should cut deals for the sake of cutting deals,” the aide added.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said whether Democrats work with Republicans next year will depend largely on how McConnell runs the chamber.

“The feeling on our side is, there are some issues that are just basic differences between the parties that are not likely to be bridged,” he said. “I’ve heard from a lot of my colleagues, there’s also a sentiment that says, if there’s a way to work in a bipartisan fashion, they want to try to pursue it.”

Durbin called the 2010 Affordable Care Act a “delicate, tough area,” where it would be difficult to find compromise but said energy legislation might find more common ground.

McConnell hopes to pick off enough Democrats to muster 60 votes to repeal ObamaCare’s medical device tax next year, but Democratic leaders will argue that the approximately $30 billion cost of doing so should be offset, which would make it more difficult to pass.

“I’ve always said [it should be] paid for,” Durbin said. “We’re looking to see if they’re still budget hawks, when they’re in the majority.”

He predicted that Reid would be able to keep the caucus unified on major votes.

“The last time I remember that I was the whip and [Republicans] were in the majority, we had 45 votes,” Durbin recalled. “I looked back at the two-year period of time, and we didn’t lose a single vote that we decided to make a stand.”

“We were always able to come up with 41,” he said.

Whether Reid whips Democrats to band together and filibuster GOP legislation will depend largely on whether McConnell allows the minority party to vote on amendments, as he has promised.

Reid also must calibrate his newly expanded leadership team, which now includes liberal favorite Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-W.Va.) and centrist Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

Warner was one of six Democrats to vote last month for a new leader instead of Reid.

“It’s intriguing to think how the leadership team is going to work going forward,” said another senior Democratic aide. “How is Reid going to make it operational? Who is going to have real influence?”

Reid’s team represents a microcosm of the challenges he faces across the broader conference. Warren will push the party to take more populist stances while Warner will pursue deals with the GOP. Three years ago, Warner played a central role in forming an ad-hoc bipartisan group to pursue an ambitious deficit-reduction deal.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues to make the U.S. Senate a place, where real work gets done to solve the challenges facing the American people,” Warner said after receiving his promotion to the leadership.

[Libloather]

But he does not plan to capitulate his party’s core principles, either, according to Senate Democratic sources.

If those are ever listed, they'll remain a minority party for 100 years or more.

[Graybeard58]

The Nevada Democrat is leading a divided party smarting from a midterm election that saw Senate Democrats lose eight seats.

I believe it's now 9 seats, after the Louisana election yesterday.

.....but who's counting?

[ronnie raygun]

Here is where we watch the GOP and the minute they start reaching across the isle we need to cut thier hands off

[Liz]

Course, I'm just a really, really good person so I think we should aid Harry Reid in the difficult transition from Leader to Loser.

Let's give Harry a brand new office ....in the Capitol's sub-basement, next to the furnace. Harry'll just love his brand-new cardboard desk (some assembly required).

Although I hear phone service isn't hooked up down there yet. Too bad. Harry can always use smoke signals (from the handy furnace) to communicate.

And let's give 'ol Harry a comfortable desk chair---complete w/ comfy head and foot rests.......and tell Harry not to worry about all those silly electrical switches lying around.

Harry's new chair....with our compliments.

[Liz]

INSIDER TIDBIT--Obama/Reid feud escalates.

NYT REPORTED Obama called Harry Reid to broach a particularly delicate subject. It was during last year’s government shutdown and standoff with Republicans, but Mr. Obama’s frustration focused on one of their own.

Obama told Reid he suspected David Krone, Mr. Reid’s intensely loyal and influential top aide, of leaking to the news media, and requested that he stay away from future meetings.

It did not take much time for the president’s comments to reach Mr. Reid’s right-hand man. To Mr. Obama’s surprise, Mr. Krone was listening in on the call.

Suddenly, the aide piped up and made it clear to the president that he did not appreciate the accusation.

When Obama and Reid traveled to Nevada, to promote his executive action on immigration and allowed Reid to unofficially start his re-election campaign, public harmony contrasted with the private discord between the two men and their staffs....

... much of which has centered on Mr. Krone, a wealthy former cable executive whose defining principle is to defend Mr. Reid at all costs....(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

[tflabo]

Harry (the booty) Reid could be replaced by an illegal Senator-—one of his many constituents he so adores.
That would free him up to pursue his dream of being a funeral director.

[hal ogen]

Thew GOP has an opportunity here to beat these anti-American leftists asses down. Let’s see what they do. Maybe the GOP is so self-loathing that they desire to become the Whigs of this century. Time will soon tell.

[C210N]

centrist incumbents fall in the 2014 midterms.

The Hill Drivel.

Any 'Rat that voted an income redistribution bill, without reading it, but knowing it was 2000+ pages purporting to deal with health care, and against the wishes of voters, is no "centrist". They are marxists. Those that replaced them are generally centrists.

[Colonel_Flagg]

We were always able to come up with 41.

Right there you see the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Under McConnell, the Republicans NEVER came up with 41. That's why any talk of Yertle as an obstructionist is laughable. He was completely supine.

[lavaroise]

The question is of the RINOs use the nuclear option now... or if they will make a vote for it to never appear again? .. along with term limits.

[rrrod]

muzzie, child molestor or registered Democrat....no difference whatsoever........

[jackal7163]

Reid’s core principles are power and getting elected... That sets him against Obama