Reid: “We Only Have 60 Votes On Paper”

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
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During his tele-town hall this evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) bluntly explained why it is that he’s been so eager to have a bipartisan bill, as opposed to a Democrats-only approach.

“People wonder why I have been so persistent in trying to get a bipartisan bill. I’ve done that because under the rules of the Senate, we’re better off if we can do a bill where we can get a little bit of Republican support,” said Reid. “The Republican leaders in the Senate, McConnell and Kyl, have said they don’t want to do health care reform. The leaders in the House, Boehner and Cantor, have said they don’t want to do health care reform. So we have been trying very hard to to get some Republican support for our legislation.”

“We only have 60 votes on paper,” Reid added, explaining that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has passed away, and had not been voting in his final months, and that Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) hasn’t been voting very much, either. “We only have 58 votes, and is why we need Republican support.”

However, Reid added, his patience for Republican support is not infinite.

“Now if we can’t do a bipartisan bill, then we will do a partisan bill. I don’t want to do that,” he said. “Under the rules of the Senate, we passed a budget resolution that says we can do, with a simple majority, we can do education and health care. I don’t want to have to do that. Because if you’re talking to me right now about what I could do with reconciliation, it would be only three-fourths of what I could do with a bipartisan bill.”

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