Harry Reid has really been working hard on this whole “raise the debt ceiling before the world ends” thing. The guy deserves a break, and he’s gonna get one.
“It looked earlier this week like the Senate would have to originate legislation perhaps as soon as today to avoid default. Circumstances have changed,” the Senate majority leader said. Turns out no originating of legislation will be needed. All the Senate had to do was vote down the House’s “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan today without amending it or putting forth another proposal before it broke for the weekend.
Reid and the Senate don’t need to come in this weekend because “the speaker of the House and the president have been working to reach agreement on a major deficit-reduction measure.”
But hey, wasn’t it just yesterday that Reid was softly saying something about the possibility of the House going into recess being “untoward”?
Yes! That was yesterday!
A House recess would send “a bad picture” to the nation. “I think this is a very bad picture for our country to have the House of Representatives out this weekend when we have to likely wait for them to send us something. So I think it is just untoward — and that’s the kindest word I can say — for the House of Representatives to be out this weekend.”
The Senate, though. The Senate would be meeting over the weekend, and also every day until a deal was reached. Until Reid decided that wouldn’t be necessary. John Boehner and Obama are on it! Senate party time!
Alec Jacobs is an editor at The Daily Caller.