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Sen. Harry Reid Morphs Into a Constitution-Loving Patriot in Describing Why the Filibuster Must Go (+video)

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Photo Credit: J. Scott ApplewhiteBy Stephen Dinan. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that the men who wrote the Constitution intended for the president’s nominees to be subject to only a majority vote, and said filibusters of nominees were never envisioned.

The Senate’s leading Democrat, who led repeated filibusters of President George W. Bush’s nominations when Republicans held the majority, said he’s changed his mind since then, and he accused the GOP of forcing his hand by slow-walking so many of President Obama’s nominees.

Mr. Reid, of Nevada, said the Constitution only requires supermajority votes for specific circumstances: treaties, impeachments, constitutional amendments and overrides of presidential vetoes. He said everything else should be subject to a majority vote. Read more from this story HERE.


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Senators: No Deal Yet on ‘Nuclear Option’

By Newsmax, Reuters and The Associated Press. U.S. senators said on Monday that no agreement had yet been reached to avert a showdown over President Barack Obama’s executive-branch nominees and threats by Democrats to strip Republicans of their filibuster power to block such nominations.

As the talks entered their fourth hour, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said a deal was unlikely on Monday, but Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss said the chamber’s two leaders, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Mitch McConnell, were urged to keep trying to find common ground.

Votes are set for Tuesday on seven of Obama’s nominees.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester indicated progress, telling reporters: “The two sides aren’t off by far.”

All but three senators returned to Washington Monday night for the unusual joint-caucus meeting behind closed doors to hammer out a deal. Read more from this story HERE.

Casino Crony Kickback: Reid, Heller Slip Las Vegas Tourism Handout Into Immigration Bill

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) have inserted a provision that amounts to little more than a handout to Las Vegas casinos into the repackaged immigration reform bill, Breitbart News has learned. This provision, a brazen example of crony capitalism, was inserted into the immigration law enforcement section of the bill despite the fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with “immigration” or “law enforcement.”

On page 66 of the repackaged bill, the following provision appears:

“CORPORATION FOR TRAVEL PROMOTION.—Sec- 9(d)(2)(B) of the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (22 U.S.C. 2131(d)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘For each of fiscal years 2012 through 2015,’’ and inserting ‘‘For each fiscal year after 2012.”

The Travel Promotion Act (TPA) of 2009 allows the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to spend up to $100 million on promoting travel to specific areas of the country. If the provision Reid and Heller inserted into the proposed immigration reform legislation becomes law, the benefits of the TPA would be extended indefinitely.

As the Heritage Foundation’s Jena McNeill wrote in June 2009, the Travel Promotion Act creates “a government-run public relations campaign funded by a tax on international visitors.” After the law was passed, the PR campaign touting Las Vegas casinos and other tourist destinations in the U.S. using that tax was rolled into a government-run corporation called “Brand USA.” In October 2012, Jim DeMint and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a report that “reveals a history of waste, abuse, patronage, and lax oversight” with the Brand USA program and the Department of Commerce that oversees it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Key Sen. Reid Supporter Convicted of Approx. $150k of Illegal Contributions to Senator’s Campaign

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Photo Credit: AP

A former Nevada powerbroker was convicted Wednesday of making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

A federal jury reached the verdict in the case against real estate developer and once powerful lobbyist Harvey Whittemore.

The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on charges of making excessive campaign contributions, making contributions in the name of another and causing a false statement to be made to the Federal Election Commission.

Whittemore faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

The jury was deadlocked on a fourth charge of making a false statement to the FBI.

Read more from this story HERE.

Why GOP Must Have a Senate Majority in 2014: Harry Reid Promises to Bring Back Gun Control Bill

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday announced that the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate would shelve its gun control legislation — for now.

“Yesterday, President Obama said it was a shameful day for the Senate, and it probably was, I agree,” Sen. Reid said. “But we should make no mistake: This debate is not over, in fact this fight is just beginning.”

The Nevada Senator said that the legislative body would “take a pause and freeze the background check bill where it is” and “return to it at an undetermined date,” according to the Washington Post.

“We’re going to come back to this bill,” Reid said…

“The underlying bill hasn’t been defeated and is still technically on the legislative calendar. As majority leader, Reid can bring up the bill again at a moment’s notice,” the report explains.

Read more from this story HERE.

Reid Warns of ‘Unreasonable Extremists’ in Gun Debate

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Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, kicked off Monday’s session by saying the victims of December’s Connecticut shooting rampage deserve a vote on gun legislation and warning of “unreasonable extremists” who may try to derail or delay the process.

Mr. Reid said protecting citizens’ Second Amendment rights and working to prevent gun violence are “both worthy goals, and they should not be mutually exclusive goals.”

The Senate on Monday begins debate on a gun-control bill, the expected centerpiece of which is a amendment that would expand gun-purchase background checks to gun sales online and to all vendors at gun shows…

Presently, only licensed firearms dealers are required to conduct background checks.

Read more from this story HERE.

Even the ACLU Says Reid’s Gun Legislation Threatens Privacy Rights, Civil Liberties

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

As Senate Democrats struggle to build support for new gun control legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union now says it’s among those who have “serious concerns” about the bill.

Those concerns have the capacity to prove a major setback to Sen. Harry Reid’s current gun bill, which includes language from earlier bills introduced by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Barbara Boxer.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, a top lobbyist for the ACLU announced that the group thinks Reid’s current gun bill could threaten both privacy rights and civil liberties.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrats Throw In Towel On Assault Weapons Ban

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has significantly weakened gun control legislation, stripping a provision that would have banned assault-style weapons and high-capacity gun clips.

The move will make it easier for the Senate to pass a milder gun control bill that deals mostly with controlling who can purchase a gun. It also spares red-state Senate Democrats running in 2014 from having to vote on a bill that could cost them re-election.

“An assault weapons ban was always a poison bill that was great for the White House to talk about but politically damaging for those vulnerable Democrats representing red states to support,” Ron Bonjean, a Republican political strategist and former House and Senate leadership aide, told The Washington Examiner.

The Senate will vote on a gun control bill measure in April, but it won’t include a proposal authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would have made it illegal to purchase military-style assault weapons and gun clips that can hold more than 10 rounds.

Feinstein announced the provision in the weeks following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, standing with shooting victims and law enforcement agents near a wall displaying some of the 157 assault-style weapons she hoped to make illegal. Feinstein’s measure cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week with the support of the panel’s Democratic majority, but no Republicans voted for it. Beyond the committee, some Democrats from pro-gun states were against it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Armed Services Chair: Never Seen Such Lack of ‘Truth-Telling’ from Commander in Chief

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photo credit: realtor action centerHouse Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.). (AP) (CNSNews.com) – Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) said on Friday that he has never seen such a lack of honesty from President Barack Obama over the sequester budget cuts, adding, “I don’t know what extent this White House will go to, but it’s got to end.”

“I have never in my lifetime seen such a lack of leadership and truth-telling emanating from the White House and from our commander-in-chief,” McKeon said during a press conference on Capitol Hill as the across-the-board spending cuts, known as the sequester, apparently were going into effect.

The cuts, which constitute $44 billion less in increased spending in 2013, constitute about 1.2 percent of the federal budget for this year.

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Senator Reid Says ‘We Need More Tax Increases’

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Photo Credit: Human EventsSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid told George Stephanopoulos Sunday that any attempts to avoid the looming “sequester” must involve tax hikes.

Harry Reid also said the American public was behind him.

ABC’s This Week reported: “Asserting that “the American people” are on his side, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told me during an exclusive interview for “This Week” that any that deal reached between Republicans and Democrats to avoid the looming sequester must — “without any question” – include revenue.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Reid Fends Off Questions About Menendez Allegations

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Photo Credit: Center for American Progress Action FundSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fended off questions about Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) at a press conference about immigration reform.

The first question out of the gate was from CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who asked Reid when he learned that Menendez had reimbursed a political donor nearly $60,000 for two trips he took on the donor’s private plane.

Reid defended Menendez as a “friend” and “outstanding senator” but declined to discuss any details he may have had with the New Jersey lawmaker about media reports of allegations that he had sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

“First of all, Bob Menendez is my friend. He’s an outstanding senator. Any questions in this regard, direct to him. I don’t know anything about it,” Reid said.

The purpose of the press event was for Democratic leaders to reiterate their call for comprehensive immigration reform, and Reid wanted to discuss his plan for moving the bill through the Judiciary Committee and then to the floor.

Read more on this story HERE.