Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, at odds once again

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, at odds once again

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell implored his caucus to band together against Reid, sources inside the room said. “It takes a bit of an adjustment to move from majority leader back to minority leader,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who has served as an emissary between Reid and McConnell. “Maybe Sen. Reid has got some adjusting to do. It’s the prerogative of the majority leader to set the schedule. … He should understand that.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is working to up-end Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan to quickly pass fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Reid says he'll hold up that bill until the Senate first addresses highway funding and PATRIOT Act reauthorization—both of which have deadlines attached to them. Then, Reid says, once those important and time-sensitive issues have been resolved, he'll be fine with the Senate turning to Trade Promotion Authority (though he opposes that legislation). Republicans are ... unhappy with him. And it's the prerogative of the minority to hold things up and get in the way, as Republicans well know, that having been their specialty when in the minority. If there are 41 Democrats who don't want TPA to move forward until highway funding is no longer in danger of running out, they can make that happen. Republicans just want Democrats to play by different rules than they themselves play by. As usual.

With few exceptions, Senate Democrats—even some who may support TPA—are on Reid's side:



“The TPA has time. The highway bill and a couple of other things don’t,” [Sen. Dianne] Feinstein concluded. [...] “Look, here’s the bottom line. We have two immediate deadlines: [Surveillance] and highways. If we get on trade, we’ll never get to them,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “What Harry has done makes some sense.”

Probably the bigger threat to Democratic unity on this is that President Obama very much wants TPA passed, and some Democrats who would stand firm against Republicans may be more vulnerable to pressure from the White House. That said, Obama also wants highway funding, which expires at the end of the month, right in time for construction season. So he at least has something to think about when deciding how hard to pressure Democrats to vote for TPA now, first, right away.

Whatever happens, Harry Reid continues to be a delight in his current role.