Reid’s Party Unity Outplays Boehner’s Divided Republicans
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael C. Bender - Oct 17, 2013
Days before the U.S. risked a debt default, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had the chance to pocket a deal. Instead, he went for the kill.
Reid, a Nevada Democrat and a former competitive boxer, called Senator Joe Manchin on Oct. 13 and insisted the West Virginia Democrat deny reports of an agreement among a bipartisan group of senators to re-open the government and raise the debt ceiling.
Reid was in one-on-one talks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that he wanted to end in a better deal from Republicans, who were in retreat as they took greater blame for the impasse in public polls. The White House, for its part, was warning Democratic leaders off of what it viewed as an unfavorable compromise emerging from the bipartisan group.
In response, Manchin and other Democrats issued a statement announcing there was no agreement to end the standoff, which became the final in a series of instances in which Reid, 73, maneuvered to ensure that Democrats blunted Republican demands in the fiscal fight that shut the government down for 16 days and risked a U.S. default on its debts.
Reid’s hardline stance yielded results last night when Congress passed legislation that omitted every Republican goal.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-17/reid-s-party-unity-outplays-boehner-s-divided-republicans.html