Reid reinstalled as Democratic leader

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats on Tuesday reinstalled Harry Reid as their leader for the upcoming Congress, entrusting the Nevadan with another two years running the upper house for their scaled-back majority.

Leadership elections for the upcoming 112th session of Congress were drama-free in closed-door meetings in the Capitol.

Democrats and Republicans re-elected leaders who will guide the Senate through compromise and confrontation in the two years leading up to the 2012 presidential elections.

"My team was just re-elected," Reid announced after the Democrats' meeting held in the historic Old Senate Chamber.

Democrats re-elected as Reid deputies were Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington.

Reid further appointed Schumer to be head of the Democratic Policy Committee, where he will have more power to shape the party's messages.

Republicans re-elected Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to lead them in the session that will begin in January.

Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Thune of South Dakota also were returned to the GOP leadership.

Reid, 70, has headed the Democrats for six years, two when they were in the minority and four when they controlled the Senate.

He survived his toughest re-election this month in a nationwide Republican surge that otherwise saw the GOP gain six seats in the Senate.

That gives the Democratic caucus only a 53-47 edge for the upcoming session, compared to a 59-seat bulge in the session coming to an end.

Murray, who also was involved in a hard-fought re-election, nominated Reid to return as leader, according to Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, one of two independents who caucus with the Democrats.

Reid accepted, spoke briefly and was re-elected by acclamation.

"It was totally unanimous," Lieberman said. "Harry has a personal relationship with every member of the caucus."

Addressing the senators, Reid reflected on his re-election race against Sharron Angle, who challenged him with support from Tea Party advocates, national Republicans and conservative interest groups that spent millions of dollars on advertising.

"With everything they threw at me, if I could win, anybody could win," Reid said, according to a Democrat who asked not to be identified and related what was said behind closed doors.

According to several senators, Reid got down to business immediately following his re-election as majority leader, laying out proposals for caucus policies.

Meanwhile, as a post-election lame duck session enters its third day, the outlook for Senate action on major tax and budget issues remained uncertain.

Reid said little about how he plans to move forward, saying he is still taking the temperature of Democrats as to what might be possible.

But on one issue the Nevadan remained clear. He repeated his support for earmarked spending, as Senate Republicans adopted a policy for their caucus not to seek pet funding for their states in spending bills.

"I believe personally we have a constitutional responsibility to do congressionally directed spending," Reid said. "I am not in favor of delegating my personal responsibility to the White House."

Critics have equated earmarks -- spending that lawmakers direct to home state projects -- to be wasteful spending and a symbol of what is wrong with Congress.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group that monitors earmarks, has estimated $6 billion in earmarks are in 2011 spending bills approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is less than 1 percent of the $1.1 trillion in the legislation.

"People say it is a small portion of the overall budget, but it is still a significant symbolic gesture to say this is how we are going to start to control spending," said Rep.-elect Joe Heck, a Nevada Republican attending orientation at the Capitol on Tuesday.

Republicans and several Democrats including Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri say they will seek a Senate vote to outlaw earmarks.

Reid said he would agree to set up a debate on the topic, but did not specify when that might be.

In the meantime, Reid rejected the idea that doing away with earmarks amounts to meaningful budget reform.

"I don't accept that," he said. "I think I have an obligation to the people of Nevada to do what is important for Nevada, not what is important to some bureaucrats with green eyeshades."

Reid reiterated that Democrats will seek Republican input on bills as a gesture in the new Congress.

"The American people want us to work together, that is our goal," he said. "We feel very sound in our approach to this lame duck, and of course next year and the year after that."

McConnell said the message Republicans got from the election was that voters "would like us to cut spending, cut the debt and get private sector job creation going again. It is our hope we can work with the (President Barack Obama) administration on all those issues."

Stephens Washington Bureau reporter Peter Urban contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault @stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.