Senate standoff, Day 2

Harry Reid says that negotiations aren't happening, then vows that the House won't beat him to a vote.

Published February 6, 2007 8:00PM (EST)

It has been 20 hours since the Senate deadlocked over the terms of debate for resolutions that criticize President Bush's Iraq strategy. And nothing, it seems, has changed.

"This talk about negotiations going on is nonsense," Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a briefing with reporters this afternoon. "There are no negotiations going on."

But then a reporter pointed out that the House plans to take up its own anti-surge resolution next week, a bill that may very well look a lot like the bipartisan compromise legislation the Senate is refusing to bring to the floor. A vote in the House may occur as early as next Thursday. So how would Reid feel if the House beat the Senate to a vote on the resolution sponsored by John Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.?

"They are not going to vote first, OK," Reid said, appearing a bit miffed.


By Michael Scherer

Michael Scherer is Salon's Washington correspondent. Read his other articles here.

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