Player of the Week: Harry Reid

For weeks, House Republicans and Senate Democrats have been jockeying over a government shutdown, with each side blaming the other for intransigence.

And then an unusual sequence of events occurred. The chambers agreed that they had to iron out a stopgap measure to fund the government as talks on a larger deal continue.

{mosads}Instead of pro-rating their $61 billion cost-cutting bill that passed the House last month, Republican leaders pivoted and mixed some cuts with spending reductions that President Obama has endorsed.

The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) applauded the bill, though House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted it. 

“Republicans want to cut an additional $4 billion, which includes stripping support for some pressing educational challenges without redirecting these critical resources to meet the educational needs of our children,” Pelosi said in a statement. “This is not a good place to start.”

Meanwhile, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has not issued a release on the House proposal.

Asked for reaction on the stopgap measure that will be voted on by the House on Tuesday, liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declined to comment. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) has, however, indicated support for it. 

Rank-and-file members were not in Washington last week because of the Presidents Day recess. Sometimes, that can make life easier for congressional leaders. 

But it remains to be seen what kind of reaction congressional Democrats will offer this week. It is likely that at least some of them will have a similar reaction to Pelosi’s. 

Reid has a very good working relationship with his Democratic colleagues. Yet it’s a good bet he will be answering some of his colleagues’ urgent questions about his handling of the short-term appropriations bill.