Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid discusses how partisan differences have impacted the pace of recent legislative progress on Capitol Hill on the Lehrer Report with Ray Suarez.
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat- Nevada) EPA/STEFAN ZAKLIN
RAY SUAREZ: Senator Reid, welcome to the program.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader: Thank you very much for allowing me to be on your show.
RAY SUAREZ: Well, at the beginning of this year, the Democrats returned to the majority after 12 years in the minority. You and Speaker Pelosi announced a very ambitious agenda. Now that one year has passed and you look back, how has it gone?
SEN. HARRY REID: Well, we've been able to accomplish quite a bit, but not very much, certainly not as much as I wanted to. I'm kind of frustrated, like the American people.
There are a lot of things that need to be done. We found a blockage on nearly everything we tried.
But in spite of that, in spite of the fact that in just a few short months, rather than two years, the Republicans blocked us 62 times. The record for two years was 61. So in just a few short months, they had more filibusters than in the history of the Congress before.
But in spite of that, we were able to get things done, with the most sweeping ethics and lobbying reform. We were able to get good things done as it relates to a balanced budget. We passed that.
We were able to get relief for 9/11. We got the commission recommendations there. We were able to just recently get some good energy legislation passed, but not enough. We still have so much more to do.
And what I've learned, I guess, during the past year is that we want to change and the Bush Republicans want to keep things the way they are. So we want to change things, and we're going to work very hard next year to see if we can get the Republicans to join with us more often than last year, and not have as many things blocked, and try to do some more things.
RAY SUAREZ: You and your colleagues have approved a partial allocation of what the president asked for continuing funding of the Iraq and Afghanistan operations. The president called it a down payment in his news conference.
But today, Secretary of Defense Gates said paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this way -- as he called it, "in fits and starts" -- undermines U.S. military planning and risks gains made by U.S. troops over the past year. How do you respond?
SEN. HARRY REID: Ray, it was just a few weeks ago that the secretary, when asked the question, if we give you no money for this supplemental, how long can the troops -- how long can you take care of things? And he said the Army is good until the 1st of March, the Marines are OK until the middle of March.
I confirmed this with him. The secretary and I had a conversation. He was in Afghanistan; I was here. And he confirmed that.
Just a few days after having said this, the spin starts. "You've got to give us money or we're going to have to start laying people off." That's not valid. And I think it speaks volumes.
The Republicans don't even accept that. We just had a vote in the Senate of the United States -- the House confirmed this -- where the president asked for $196 billion, even the Republicans in the Senate didn't have the nerve and the audacity to ask for it all. They asked for about a third of it. And so $70 billion had been just approved.
Could they wait just a little while before they start the political drum roll? We have done everything we've been called upon -- and more -- for the troops. We have been there. We support the troops.
But this war is costing us $12 billion a month in borrowed money. There are some who say it's already cost us about $800 billion. And that's direct cost for the war.
So I think what we need to do is recognize that the political situation in Iraq is no better than it was two years ago, three years ago, a year ago. They've got to take care of their own situation.
We have done a lot. We have done, some say, far too much. We've got to start bringing our troops home. We have taken our eye off the prize in Afghanistan. The Taliban is resurgent.
We have Osama bin Laden, who is still taunting us. He is still free and loose.
So I think that we have to recognize that we don't have unlimited resources, an unlimited time to spend in Iraq. And now they must take over their own government and their own country.
RAY SUAREZ: But if the president asks for $196 billion, and he's appropriated $70 billion, he's going to have to come back to you anyway, isn't he? What's the idea behind giving him just part of that if, in four months or five months, he has to come and ask for more?
SEN. HARRY REID: Ray, the Republicans offered the amendment for $70 billion. We didn't. The reason is the money is not necessary now.
Secretary Gates said, if we gave them no more money, they're OK until the 1st of March, the middle of March for the Marines. This is all a political game that the president is using.
He should just focus and work with us. You know, the president needs to work with us. If there's a problem with the money, send the secretary down and tell us.
But the secretary told us there's not a problem. And I don't know who he's talked to in the White House that he suddenly goes "well, there's a problem" -- the American people just have been asked to spend $70 billion more in borrowed money. I think that's OK. Let's see how things go. Let's see if we can bring some of the troops home and not have to spend all that money.
RAY SUAREZ: One thing that's changed a great deal since the beginning of the year is the number of American troops that are dying in Iraq and the rate at which they're dying and being wounded.
The increase in the number of American troops in the theater, by many accounts, is having its desired effect, and the day-to-day violence in Iraq is in decline. Does that change your approach to Iraq? Does it force a change on your body, the Senate, in how you respond to calls to change direction now?...
Senator Reid discussed the impact of the troop surge:
SEN. HARRY REID: Ray, you can't have it both ways. The president said, "Let's send some more troops over there, and that will give the Iraqis the time to take care of themselves." We sent other troops over there, and there are a lot of reasons the surge certainly hasn't hurt. It's helped. I recognize that.
But also, on your radio program, public radio today, there was a story about the fact that one of the academics said -- it was a long interview -- that said, you know, the ethnic cleansing has taken place all over Iraq. There is not the conflict because there is separation. There's segregation in effect.
*We will post the video of this transcribed conversation as soon as it is available on YouTube.
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