First off, I wish incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D. NV) a speedy recovery from his injuries. But it looks like Reid isn't letting his injuries stand in the way of getting ready for what the 114th Congress has in store:
Now that the Democrats are the minority party in the Senate, one has to wonder how the Democrats are going to fight the GOP. BuzzFeed posted a very encouraging article about Reid's strategy as Senate Minority Leader:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/...
“This is not Senator Reid’s first rodeo. He’s been an incredibly effective leader both in the majority and the minority,” a senior Senate Democratic leadership aide said Tuesday of Reid’s abilities to keep his caucus in line.
It appears that Reid may be pulling a page from his own minority leader playbook already this year.
Despite opposition from the White House to upcoming bills on the Keystone XL pipeline and the medical device tax in Obamacare, both likely to have enough Democratic support to pass the Senate, and Reid appears content to let them pass with nominal opposition and little arm twisting.
That’s eerily similar to how Reid opened up his tenure as the new minority leader in 2005. Then, with Republicans riding high from their 2004 drubbing of Senate Democrats, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist quickly pushed through two long-sought-after Republican bills: a measure overhauling the nation’s bankruptcy laws and a bill to limit class-action lawsuits. Both measures were hotly opposed by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, but enjoyed some support from moderates, and Reid essentially allowed them to move through the chamber without much of a fight in a show of deference to the 2004 election.
Then Democrats closed ranks. President George W. Bush made their job easier by focusing all of his political capital on a bid to change Social Security, but even lower-profile bills ground to a halt. Before the end of the year it became commonplace for Frist to come to the floor to lament the slow pace of legislating in the Senate.
Democrats close to Reid said to expect a similar dynamic. “Once we get past the low-hanging fruit, the contrasts between Republicans and Democrats are going to be much starker” and Reid’s conference will become increasingly united, one former Reid aide said.
When the Democrats will attempt to do that is unclear — though one possibility is when the funding for the Department of Homeland Security runs out in February. The measure was originally designed to give Republicans time to determine how to defund the Obama administration’s executive actions on immigration.
Obama will veto any bill that limits his ability to put the immigration actions into effect, and Democrats will likely try to attack Republicans on the issue as extreme.
But if Republicans can craft bills that attack the actions in such a way as to pressure moderate Democrats — for instance, one leadership aide said the bill could include explicit language regarding funding for undocumented sexual predators — it could be the first test of Reid’s ability to control his conference.
That ability could also be tested by a handful of other issues. Sen. Elizabeth Warren briefly exerted pressure late last year over a measure that helped Citigroup — she and a handful of other lawmakers represent a real division in how Democrats approach financial issues. Additionally, trouble could come in the form of an Iran sanctions bill or any effort by Republicans to undo Obama’s recent executive orders relating to Cuba, both of which will have natural support inside his conference.
But the biggest wild card facing Reid over the next year will be the House. If Republicans opt to ship over high-profile measures that dismantle environmental and labor regulations, tie Obama’s hands on immigration, or repeatedly include Obamacare repeal language, you can expect Reid’s conference to rally around him — and to a lesser degree the president. - BuzzFeed, 1/6/15
Reid has indicated that he is ready for a real fight this year. The Republicans are on borrowed time in terms of their control of the U.S. Senate because not only will they face a Presidential election but also a more challenging Senate map having to defend seats in Blue and Swing States like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Illinois North Carolina and Florida. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R. KY) will have problems both keeping these GOP Senators on board with his agenda because of their re-election prospects. McConnell will also have to deal with the growing Tea Party caucus being lead by people like Senator Ted Cruz (R. TX). Things might also get interesting in places like Alaska and Arizona but it's still too early to tell. Reid also has a tough re-election fight ahead of him, especially if Governor Brian Sandoval (R. NV) decides to challenge him. It will be interesting to see what Reid does. If you'd like to get involved with Reid's re-election campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.harryreid.com/...