Harry Reid to retire, endorses Schumer to replace him
Harry Reid to retire, endorses Schumer to replace him
By Dana Bash, Jeff Zeleny and Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 12:27 PM ET, Fri March 27, 2015
Source: CNN
Senator Harry Reid won't seek re-election 01:47
Washington (CNN)Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Friday he won't seek reelection in 2016, and picked New York Sen. Charles Schumer as his successor for his leadership post.
The fifth-term Nevada Democrat had denied retirement rumors for months, which grew louder after he suffered serious injuries in an exercising accident on New Year's Day. He said in a video posted on Twitter and Youtube that the bruises were "nothing," but added that "this accident has caused us for the first time to have a little bit of downtime ... time to ponder and to think."
"We have got to be more concerned about the country, the senate, the state of Nevada, than us. And as a result of that, I'm not going to run for reelection," he says in the video.
Reid was a top GOP target and expecting a fierce reelection fight, and he says in the video that he feels it would be "inappropriate" for him to "soak up all those resources" while Democrats have a real shot at taking back the Senate. In an interview with the New York Times, Reid notes that many of Democrats' top targets are in big, expensive states, naming Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida and Maryland as examples.
RELATED: Harry Reid Fast Facts
"The decision I made has absolutely nothing to do with my injury, and it has nothing to do with my being majority leader, and it certainly has nothing to do with my ability to be reelected, because the path to reelection is much easier than it probably has been any time that I've run for reelection," he says in the video.
A member of Reid's staff tells CNN that the senator made the decision to retire with his family around Christmas, but told his staff that he wanted two months or so to sit on it before announcing it.
When his eye injury happened, on New Years' Day, it became clearer to him that he should retire. He hesitated, however, because he didn't want the decision to be seen as a result of his injury.
This aide says Reid has been telling people in private meetings that it's not so much about how he feels physically, which he says is great — the decision was based on how he would feel in eight years, which remains an open question. Reid, the source said, doesn't want to be one of the senators who's perceived to have stayed in the Senate past his prime.
Reid told the New York Times: "I want to be able to go out at the top of my game.
The notorious sports fan and boxer added: "I don't want to be a 42-year-old trying to become a designated hitter."
In interviews Friday afternoon, Reid named Schumer as the person he'd like to replace him in his leadership post.
"It's the caucus' decision but he thinks senator Schumer has earned it," Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson said, adding that Reid has also expressed his views to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who was also considered a possible replacement.
A top Democrat on the Hill tells CNN that Schumer intends to start making calls later Friday morning to some of his fellow Democratic senators, trying to begin the process of succeeding Reid. One source close to Durbin, the second ranking Democrat, told CNN it's too soon to rule him out of the fight.
Schumer issued a statement within minutes of the announcement praising Reid as "one of the best human beings I've ever met."
"His character and fundamental decency are at the core of why he's been such a successful and beloved leader. He's so respected by our caucus for his strength, his legislative acumen, his honesty and his determination. He has left a major mark on this body, this country, and on so many who have met him, gotten to know him, and love him," Schumer said.
Reid, who was first elected in the House in 1982 and to the Senate in 1986, rose to Senate Democratic leader in 2005 and served one of the longest tenures as floor leader in Senate history.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/27/politics/harry-reid-retiring-announcement-2016/index.html
Debt Up 15-Fold During Harry Reid’s Time in Congress; $145,131 Per Household
March 27, 2015 - 1:10 PM
By Terence P. Jeffrey
(CNSNews.com) - The debt of the federal government has grown $16,955,289,814,977.42 during the 32 years that current Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has served in the United States Congress. That equals an increase of about $145,131 for every household in the country.
There have been five presidents during that time, including three Republicans (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush) and two Democrats (Bill Clinton and Barack Obama).
Reid was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 and then was elected to the Senate in 1986. He first took office in the House on Jan. 3, 1983, the first business day in January of that year. At the beginning of that day, according to the Monthly Statement of the Public Debt for December 1982, the total public debt of the federal government was $1,197,073,000,000.
http://www.cnsnews.com/sites/default...DEBT-CHART.jpg
Reid announced today he would not seek reelection in 2016. As of March 25 of this year, the latest day for which debt numbers are available, the federal debt was $18,152,362,814,977.42.
That means that since Reid first joined Congress in 1983, the federal debt has increases $16,955,289,814,977.42.
As of December 2014, According to the Census Bureau, there were 116,827,000 households in the United States. The $16,955,289,814,977.42 that the debt has increased since Harry Reid first joined Congress thus equals $145,131.60 per household.
The $18,152,362,814,977.42 total debt of the United States equals $155,378.15 per household.
Of that $155,378.15 in federal debt per household, more than 93 percent of it ($145,131.60) has accrued during Harry Reid’s tenure in Congress.
In rising from $1,197,073,000,000 the day Harry Reid joined the House of Representatives to $18,152,362,814,977.42 today, the federal debt increased by more than 15 fold.
The $1,197,073,000,000 in federal debt as of Jan. 3, 1983 equals $2,821,078,000,000 in 2015 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculators. That means that even when that 1983 debt is adjusted to 2015 dollars, today's debt of $18,152,362,814,977.42 is still $15,331,284,814,977.42 more than the debt when Harry Reid entered Congress. That inflation-adjusted number equals an increase in the debt of $131,230.66 per household during Harry Reid's time in Congress.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...5131-household
The 10 Real Reasons Harry Reid Quit the Senate
Friday, 27 Mar 2015 12:48 PM
By Jim Meyers
Sen. Harry Reid announced on Friday that he will not seek re-election next year and will retire after serving for 30 years — including eight years as Senate Majority Leader.
The Nevada Democrat's announcement took some observers by surprise, but there are several compelling reasons behind the veteran politician's decision. Here are the 10 real reasons Harry Reid quit the Senate:
1. Reid faced a difficult re-election battle next year. According to a "Crystal Ball" report from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, "We identified Reid as probably the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in this Senate cycle." Retirement allows Reid to avoid a humiliating defeat.
2. Reid feared that another campaign in Nevada would take away money and attention from Democratic candidates in other states. "We have to make sure that the Democrats take control of the Senate again," he said in a statement he posted online. "And I feel it is inappropriate for me to soak up all those resources on me when I could be devoting those resources to the caucus."
3. He has been held responsible for the Democrats' net loss of nine Senate seats in November. Republican Mitch McConnell, Reid's successor as Majority Leader, attributed the GOP surge partly as a rejection of Reid.
4. He was chastened by his difficult re-election fight in 2010. At one point he was down by 11 percentage points in a poll against Republican Sharon Angle, considered a weak and controversial candidate. Angle helped out Reid by, among other things, claiming that Dearborn, Michigan, was under Sharia law and saying the 9/11 hijackers had entered the U.S. from Canada. Angle still won 14 of Nevada's 17 counties.
5. Reid is battling back from injuries he suffered in a fall on New Year's Day, which left him with broken ribs and impaired vision in his right eye. He still wears darkened glasses to protect the damaged eye.
6. He's reacting to fallout from this week's inspector general findings. Reid's retirement announcement came just days after an inspector general said he used his influence to lobby a Homeland Security Department official for special treatment regarding visas for investors in a casino property in Nevada. Back in 2005, Reid earmarked a spending bill to provide funds for a bridge that would make land he owned more valuable. A year later, it was reported that Reid used campaign funds to pay for $3,300 in Christmas gifts to the staff at his condominium.
7. His age. Reid is 75. If he ran for re-election next year he would be 83 years old when his sixth term expired.
8. His hometown newspaper had come out against him. The Las Vegas Review-Journal last year castigated Reid for his comment that "five white men" on the Supreme Court ruled that businesses don't have to provide birth control if doing so would violate the employer's religious beliefs. One of the five was Clarence Thomas, who is black. The newspaper accused Reid of "race-baiting" and using "outrageous rhetoric."
9. Despite Democrats' losses in November, Reid could retire with a feeling of accomplishment. He succeeded in protecting President Barack Obama's deportation amnesty policy from Republicans who tried to end it through the spending process, and more recently he blocked an anti-human trafficking bill because it contained language barring federal funds from being spent on abortion.
10. He wants to spend more time with his family. Reid, a father of five, last year sold his home in Searchlight, Nevada, and bought a condo near Las Vegas so he and his wife — who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 — could be closer to their grandchildren. Retirement enables Reid to spend more time with his family in Nevada instead of splitting his time between Washington and his home state.
Some Republicans cheered Reid's retirement announcement as aiding the GOP's success next year.
"On the verge of losing his own election and after losing the majority, Senator Harry Reid has decided to hang up his rusty spurs," said Ward Baker, executive director of Senate Republicans' campaign committee. "His retirement signals that there is no hope for the Democrats to regain control of the Senate."
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/harry.../27/id/634915/
