Harry Reid Has A Bad Day

The New York Times is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been dealt a defeat in his effort to block the more rigid ethics reforms passed by the House of Representatives.

Last week the House Democrats passed an unexpectedly broad change to their chamber’s rules that would disclose the size, purpose and sponsor of any earmark.

But on Thursday, when Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, introduced the same thing in the Senate, Democratic leaders moved quickly to squash it, calling the House bill ill thought out.

Despite Sen. Reid's opposition to DeMint's amendment (to adopt the House proposal), 10 Democrats sided with 41 Republicans to defeat Reid's effort to kill the amendment. The 10 Democrats that supported the Republicans included Russ Feingold, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, Barak Obama, Jon Tester, and Jim Webb.

The Washington Times has more details on the story.

"Democratic leaders are stalling in an attempt to strong-arm more Democrats into voting to table the amendment," said Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. "This is not a promising beginning to the new Congress when the first effort to improve accountability and transparency is being shot down by the Democratic leadership."

There is still time for Sen. Reid to change his mind and support the amended bill, but for now he is delaying a final vote on the Ethics Bill. Welcome to life in the majority, Senator, it's not as easy as it looks.