Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) isn’t worried about rounding up 60 votes for legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, saying Tuesday in an interview with a Nevada television program that crossing the crucial threshold should be “pretty easy.”
“I talked about this to a number of my senators today…” Reid said, as quoted by the Las Vegas Sun. “I think we have 60 votes. Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats. I think the most I’ll lose is two or three. Let’s say I wind up with 52 Democrats. I only need eight Republicans, and I already have four, so that should be pretty easy.”
Reid last week toned down his previous threats to use the so-called “nuclear option” in order to weaken Republican filibuster efforts, expressing concern that such an action could jeopardize immigration reform.