Sen. Harry Reid: The Responsibility For Healing Begins With Donald Trump

Retiring Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid isn't going to be singing "Kumbaya" with Donald Trump any time soon.

From his official website:

“If this is going to be a time of healing, we must first put the responsibility for healing where it belongs: at the feet of Donald Trump, a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate. Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans. Donald Trump may not possess the capacity to assuage those fears, but he owes it to this nation to try.

“If Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin immediately.”

Sen. Harry Reid Accuses FBI Director Of Violating Hatch Act

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid

Wow - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid goes full Hatch Act on FBI Director James Comey over his vague, innuendo-filled announcement Friday that "new" Clinton - related emails may have been found on a laptop shared by Huma Abedin and her estranged husband.

Via NBC News:

On Sunday, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid scolded Comey as well, saying in a letter that he "demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be clear intent to aid one political party over another."

Reid added that his office determined that Comey may have violated the Hatch Act, which bars government officials from using their authority to influence elections.

Check out the letter from Sen. Reid to Comey below (click to enlarge):

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid Endorses Hillary Clinton For President

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid announced today that he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

The Nevada Democrat issued a plea for his party to consolidate behind Clinton, who has struggled to fend off an insurgent campaign from Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

"I think the middle class would be better served by Hillary," Reid said.

"I think that my work with her over the years has been something that I have looked upon with awe. She was the first lady. She started the trend toward looking to do something about health care. She understood the issue well, she was the front on the health care during that administration," he said.

Reid added, "I also think she's the woman to be the first president of the United states that's a female."

Many see this as a sign that Democratic leaders are eager to put the party's contentious primary fight behind them.

As the Senate Minority Leader, Reid is the highest ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid Will Not Seek Re-Election In 2016

My life’s work has been to make Nevada and our nation better. Thank you for giving me that wonderful opportunity. https://t.co/dwy2rDWYhO
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) March 27, 2015

Sen. Reid has endorsed NY Sen. Chuck Schumer to replace him as Minority Leader in the Senate.

House Speaker Boehner refuses to negotiate after getting half his demands

Rep. Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the two items the Republicans demanded were "delaying" Obamacare for a year and an agreed upon budget at a figure of $986 billion.  Pelosi and 100 colleagues assembled today to say they would agree to the budget number - meeting the Republicans on one of their two demands - and John Boehner said "no."

Kids, that's called "negotiating."  And the Republicans said "no."  

The stories you keep hearing being filtered out by the Republican party saying Democrats won't "negotiate" are untrue.  Even though House Democrats don't like the budget number put forward by the House GOP, they agreed to it if Speaker Boehner would reopen the government.  According to reports, Boehner needed an "all or nothing" answer.

President Obama and congressional Republican leaders did not resolve the government shutdown during a 70-minute meeting at the White House on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said his chamber will negotiate with House Republicans on health care and other issues as soon as they vote to re-open the government.

Boehner "cannot take yes for an answer," Reid told reporters after the White House meeting with Obama.

And there you have it folks.  "Negotiation" at it's worse.

Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid becomes 50th co-sponsor of ENDA

Thank You to Senator Harry Reid for becoming the 50th Senate co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT folks in the work place.

Let's see this pass in the US Senate THIS YEAR!

(image via Memeographs)

Sen. Harry Reid on ENDA

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - yep, MY senator - has long supported legislation to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

However, yesterday he revealed a more personal reason for his support.

"My niece is a lesbian," Reid said during a sit-down with reporters. "She's a school teacher. Her employment shouldn't be affected with that. We should have a law that says that, not just the good graces of wherever you work."

Although she passed on making any pubic statements herself, Reid's spokesman says she was fine with Reid making her sexual orientation public.

Reid spoke about being approached by the HRC in the 1990s for support regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The bill would prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

The bill has been reintroduced in several Congresses and has gotten some hearings, but hasn't had a vote on the House or Senate floor since Nov. 2007, when it passed the House by 235-184. ENDA was introduced in this Congress by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) in the House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the Senate.

Reid said there's "a chance" he'll bring up ENDA for a vote this year, noting that he had a meeting about it just last week. He wondered aloud why it doesn't have broad support to pass.

"It's hard to comprehend that we haven't done a better job," he said.

(source)

Sen. Harry Reid: Gay families need to be a part of immigration reform discussion

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared on ABC's THIS WEEK telling George Stephanopoulos that same-sex families need to be included in immigration reform.

Via Think Progress:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (HOST): One of the other big issues, the President said he wants gay and lesbians to be able to have a family preference. Senator McCain has said we shouldn’t come up with legislation for what he calls social issues.

REID: If we have gay folks in this country who have children, or they come from some other place they should be protected just like any other child.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s the position the Republicans are saying that’s too heavy to lift.

REID: If they’re looking for an excuse not to support this legislation, this is another one, but the American people are past excuses. They want this legislation passed.

On the other side of the issue, Sen. John McCain says he thinks adding LGBT families to the mix becomes an entirely different discussion saying “Which is more important: LGBT or border security? I’ll tell you what my priorities are.”

How do your elected officials stack up on LGBT federal legislation?

JoeMyGod points out a cool new page on the Human Rights Campaign's website let's you type in your zip code and see how your Federal officials score on their support of legislation that impacts the LGBT community.

I'm 2 for 3.  Fingers crossed that gets fixed in November.

Is it possible that Mitt Romney may not have paid taxes for 10 years?

The Huffington Post is reporting that, according to Senator Harry Reid, Mitt Romney may not have paid any taxes for ten years and that may be the reason why Romney has only released one complete year of taxes.

According a Bain investor, Reid charged, Romney didn't pay any taxes for 10 years.

Saying he had "no problem with somebody being really, really wealthy," Reid sat up in his chair a bit before stirring the pot further. A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.

"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

If this is true, it's no wonder Romney wouldn't want to release his tax returns. It's kind of hard to relate to middle America if you don't pay any taxes at all.

Read more at the Huffington Post

Reid announces 1st hybrid geothermal/solar plant

Sen. Harry Reid kicked off the fourth annual clean energy conference today by announcing the inauguration of the first-ever hybrid geothermal and solar plant, combining Nevada’s two most homegrown forms of renewable energy in a single power-generating project.

The plant, which will be situated about 75 miles outside of Reno, will generate an additional 24 megawatts of power and create about 150 installation jobs, according to Enel Green Power North America President Francesco Venturini.

More of this please.  Renewable energy that creates jobs and doesn't harm the environment.  Repubs must hate this.

Read more at The Las Vegas Sun.

Solar Energy Project moves forward in Nevada

Senator Harry Reid joined U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu Thursday to announce the Department of Energy’s conditional commitment for a loan guarantee for the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Tonopah.

This is one of the final steps needed to allow the project to break ground, which will create more than 600 jobs in construction and operations. In addition, more than 4,300 direct and indirect jobs in manufacturing, value-added services and transportation will be induced as a result of the project. Sponsored by SolarReserve, LLC, the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will be the first of its kind in the United States and the tallest molten salt tower in the world.

“Today’s announcement is about one thing: creating good paying clean energy jobs right here in Nevada,” said Senator Reid.

“Innovative companies like SolarReserve are helping ensure that Nevada can lead the nation in clean energy production, putting people back to work and pushing America toward energy independence. They deserve all the public and private support we can muster. ”

“Nevada continues to be a leader when it comes to the generation of renewable energy, and this project will not only create hundreds of jobs in the state but will also bring additional clean energy to the region,” said Secretary Chu.