Word: reid
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...easy to understand why people underestimate Harry Reid. He doesn't leave much of an impression, and in all the hoopla over the ascension of Nancy Pelosi on the other side of the Capitol, the new Senate majority leader has been pretty much invisible. When Reid began mumbling something in the chamber a few minutes after the new Senate was sworn in, his colleagues were too caught up in their own conversations to notice that he was giving his inaugural address. "Please," presiding Senator Frank Lautenberg implored, tapping the gavel, "the majority leader is speaking...
...that means little legislative pushback in the war powers battle. Privately, leadership aides say there is no reason for Reid to get ahead of habeas cases working their way through the courts that could save Democrats the political pain of an open battle with Bush. Even Leahy's office holds out little hope of rolling back Bush's wiretapping program. And Reid's non-binding resolution on Iraq will do nothing to slow the reported imminent deployment of more troops to Baghdad. By the time the Administration's request for emergency funds for the war comes through next month, opponents...
...Iraq, Hill Democrats have chosen the latter course. Sen. Edward Kennedy yesterday introduced a bill to block funding for deploying additional troops to Iraq. But Reid and the Democratic leadership prefer a non-binding, "sense-of-the-Senate" resolution opposing the troop increase that is designed to embarrass Bush by peeling off dissenting Republicans, without actually taking any action to block the move. Kennedy's proposal, leadership aides say, is a stalking horse designed in part to placate the base by attacking Bush while leaving Democrats who support the leadership's alternative safe from accusations they don't back...
...leader, Arlen Specter, have introduced a bill that would roll back Bush's habeas-overriding powers. Leahy, Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, and New Hampshire conservative John Sununu today will introduce a bill that would require executive branch agencies regularly to report on data mining efforts. On the record, Harry Reid's office is nominally supportive of these efforts. "The new Congress will review all aspects of the war on terror to see what improvements are needed," says Reid spokesman, Jim Manley...
...Politically, however, it's hard to argue with a winning strategy. The ACLU's three races fly in the face of Harry Reid's victorious approach throughout the 109th Congress: hammer the President in every public forum on Iraq and executive overreach, but never, ever get on the wrong side of tough national security policies. Echoing the dominant centrist approach, California's Dianne Feinstein, who sits on both the intelligence and judiciary committees, told me yesterday she thinks "it is right to give the government reasonable leeway to protect Americans," while "having hearings and oversight is also helpful in clearing...