Harry Reid’s Democratic Agenda
November 27, 2006, 8:50pm
It’s no secret that Nevada Democrat Harry Reid didn’t care much for the way Republicans ran Congress, and as the incoming Senate majority leader, he is vowing to make changes in both policy and process.
In an interview with PoliticsTV, Reid sketched the Democratic agenda, promised to make the legislative process more transparent, discussed his leadership philosophy and even gave a nod to the political impact of the blogosphere.
The Senate’s agenda under Reid will include energy independence, health care, education, deficit reduction and retirement security. “We also need badly to do something to make elections more civil,” he said, citing “abused robocalls” and other tactics employed during 2006. “We have to take a look at that and consider criminal penalties.”
One of Reid’s complaints about Republican rule of Congress the past six years during a Republican presidency focused on the legislative negotiating process. He said the GOP shunned Democratic input by largely abandoning conference committees. “They have not existed in the past six years. … The committee chairs would get together and write their own bills,” he said.
As for blogs, Reid had this to say:
There’s no question in my mind that the so-called blogosphere has changed American politics. Now they make news, they drive news and they drive candidates and drive people who hold office to positions. I think it’s good we have this new dimension. Newspapers certainly aren’t the answer to what’s going on. The six-minute snippet we get on television expressing our views doesn’t do it. But the blogs are able to express the views of lots and lots of people in very many ways, and they do it directly.
Categories: Nevada, Producer's Picks, Harry Reid, Democrats
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