This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) came out swinging against Senate Republicans’ obstruction of debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill. In a press release, he argues:<\/p>\n
\nThe American people also demand that their leaders discuss these details and improve on these ideas.\u00a0 They have two simple requests: One, that their leaders look out for their economic security; and two, that their legislators legislate.\u00a0 In other words, they want us to look out for their jobs and they want us to do our own.<\/span><\/p>\n
Right now, Senate Republicans are refusing to do either. Yesterday they stood together, en bloc, to block us from moving this bill to the floor.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t even want the Senate to talk about legislation as part of the normal legislative process.<\/p>\n
More than two years after the financial collapse that sparked a worldwide recession, Senate Republicans are claiming we\u2019re moving too fast. They are claiming that only a fully negotiated and agreed-upon bill can come up for debate.\u00a0 They want all the details to be worked out beforehand, behind closed doors and out of view from the public. That is unprecedented in the 220 years of the United States Senate.\u00a0 As we all learned in civics class, that\u2019s not how the legislative process works.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n