Reid ‘bushed’ after getting bill through Senate

Just when it appeared drama over the long, bitter health reform debate had subsided, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada voted against his own bill.

Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader credited with shepherding the complex bill around countless obstacles and through narrow political openings, quickly corrected himself and cast a 'yes' vote during the rare Christmas Eve session he orchestrated.

"To be honest, I'd like to say I was trying to be funny or create some bipartisanship," Reid told the New York Times afterward. "But I was just in dreamland, thinking about where we had come. Some said, 'Oh, bipartisanship or trying to be funny.' It was neither, quite frankly. It was just I am bushed."

Having just passed a major milestone by successfully navigating the bill through the Senate with not one vote to spare Reid could afford himself a chuckle over the slip.

On the other side of the aisle Sen. John Ensign, Reid's Republican colleague from Nevada, wasn't laughing.

Ensign was one of 39 senators, all Republicans, who voted 'no' for real after countless procedural and rhetorical attempts failed to convince just one of 60 senators Reid needed on his side to defect.

In a written statement sent Christmas Eve morning, Ensign criticized the health reform bill.

"Nevadans and Americans don't want billions in new taxes; they don't want to lose their current coverage or the choice to decide their coverage; and they don't want a bureaucrat coming between them and their doctor," Ensign wrote.

A member of the Senate Finance Committee, Ensign introduced more than 20 amendments to the reform legislation.

Ensign also introduced Tuesday on the Senate floor a point of order questioning the constitutionality of a mandate in the legislation that would require people to have health insurance.

"The answer is not with unbearable taxes, unsustainable growth of the government, or paying for a brand new entitlement program," Ensign said.

In a statement following the Christmas Eve vote, Reid described the legislation as being motivated by a desire to help people.

"I can't help but think how appropriate it is that we have accomplished this amid the holiday season -- a time we join together with our loved ones to celebrate our families, our friends, our children and grandchildren," Reid wrote. "This bill embodies that spirit -- care for one another."

Of special relevance to the 2010 campaign cycle will be aspects of the legislation that will go into effect as soon as it becomes law, such as a restriction to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing health conditions.

"This aspect of health reform will take effect immediately, and not a moment too soon," Reid said.

Republican Senate candidates vying to challenge Reid next fall are seeking to undermine Reid's legislative accomplishment by highlighting what they say are unconstitutional, expensive and counter-productive aspects of the reform.

A statement by candidate Sue Lowden called Reid the "most fiscally irresponsible senator in Nevada history" and criticized political deals Reid cut to strengthen support from Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

The incentives included hundreds of millions of dollars -- possibly more -- in federal Medicaid money going to those states.

"Harry Reid bribed other senators with our tax dollars for their votes on his bill," Lowden wrote.

It's difficult to tell from polls whether voters will appreciate or resent Reid's efforts on health reform.

The most recent poll of likely Nevada voters by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research showed just 39 percent approved of "President Obama's proposal to reform health care" and 53 percent opposed it.

The same poll showed 84 percent favor some kind of health reform, however, with 29 percent favoring a "major overhaul," 16 percent desiring "minor changes" and 39 percent preferring "some changes."

Health reform going from concept to reality could help Reid's pro-reform political offensive by giving supporters tangible results and making it more of a challenge for opponents to craft arguments without looking weak, said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

"Once the dust starts to settle, the Democrats have a victory, and that is important," Herzik said before the Christmas Eve vote.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.