Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that congressional Republicans’ sole agenda is to “make President [Barack] Obama look bad.”
In his first speech on the Senate floor in the new year, Reid called for bipartisan cooperation, saying that Republicans had hamstrung bipartisan efforts.
“We have been able to get a few things done but we have been unable to get some important things done because the goal by the Republicans in the congress — not the Republicans in the country, but the Republicans in the congress — is to do everything they can to make President Obama look bad,” Reid said.
“Remember, my counterpart,” referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, “said his number-one goal the last congress was to do everything he could to keep Obama from being elected.”
Reid’s remarks came just hours before the Senate is set to hold a procedural vote on extending unemployment insurance, something Democrats have fought hard for. As of yet, however, just one Republican is on board: Nevada’s junior Sen. Dean Heller.
“I’m optimistic, cautiously optimistic, that the new year will bring a renewed spirit of cooperation to this chamber,” Reid said. “It is really very badly needed.”