Sen. Harry Reid is using his powers as Senate majority leader to force a vote for after the president’s teleprompter reading. That forces Republican Senators to stick around for the speech. Several had previously said that they intend to skip it.
Several Senate and House Republicans are planning to skip President Obama’s address tonight to a joint session of Congress, in part because they believe he will be showing them nothing new when he unveils his big job creation proposal. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has found a way to keep those pesky Republicans in the building, or at least in his chamber. Reid on Thursday scheduled a vote for after Obama’s speech, and it’s not one many in the GOP will want to miss. As soon as Obama is done talking, the Senate will proceed to a measure to disapprove a $500 billion increase in the debt limit. Reid’s move means that Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has to skip the party he was planning back home to celebrate the opening night of the NFL season, which will feature the Louisiana Saints.
“Louisiana Saints?” Who dat?
Why won’t the vote be on, say, a budget? Oh yeah, because Reid’s Democrats still don’t have one! How about on a real bill instead of a speech? Oh yeah, because Obama doesn’t have one of those either!
What. A. Tool. Reid is abusing his powers to force the Republicans to attend the president’s political speech. And he’s using the debt ceiling as a political weapon, too.
All this does is expose just how weak Obama really is and how completely political the Democrat leadership is. Put country before party? Riiiiight.
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