Reid to GOP: 'Stop Crying'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Tuesday that Republicans should "stop crying over reconciliation"—the procedure that would require only a simple majority to pass health-care reform—because it's on the table. Reid acted annoyed by a question of whether reconciliation was the only way to press forward on the reform effort, and answered no, but also said the GOP should quit "lamenting" the possibility of the procedure. "I would recommend to them to go back and look at history," Reid said, adding that it had been used 21 times since 1981, the "vast majority" of the time by Republicans. So, "they should stop crying about reconciliation as if it's never been done before. It's been done by almost every Congress.... Contract for America was done with reconciliation. Tax cuts, done with reconciliation. Medicare, done with reconciliation." Reid added that President Obama's efforts to reach across the aisle—as in Thursday's televised health-care summit—were genuine.