Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called out Republicans today for refusing to move forward on immigration reform, despite his promises that other priorities would be taken care of first.
“I am going to move forward on energy first…but for anyone saying that we shouldn’t do immigration this year–especially Republicans–that takes a lot of gall,” Reid said.
Reid also expressed his frustration over the filibusters on financial reform. “All the talk of Republicans about wanting to do something about this bill before it gets on the floor is really anti-Senate, anti-American. They keep stalling, and they keep stalling.”
We’ve been reporting that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C), a chief architect of new energy and climate legislation, withdrew support for his own bill because Reid hinted he may take up immigration first. Graham has said he won’t support the energy bill unless the Senate drops the immigration bill altogether this year.
Reid said yesterday that he would move the energy bill before immigration. “The energy bill is much further down the road…. Common sense dictates that if you have a bill that’s ready to go, that’s the one I’m going to go to,” Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference. “The energy bill is ready and we’ll move that more quickly than the bill we don’t have. I don’t have an immigration bill.”
Reporting by Brian Beutler
