WASHINGTON (AP) – Minority Leader Harry Reid bid farewell to the Senate Thursday after 30 years in the chamber and more than a decade as top Democrat, a remarkable run during which he shepherded key Obama administration legislation including the sweeping health care law.
But Reid leaves with his Democrats stuck in the minority despite his best efforts, and Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump making plans to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature law as their first order of business next year.
In an uncharacteristically lengthy and personal farewell speech on the Senate floor, Reid warned of “a new gilded age” ahead and lamented how the Senate has changed, even while declaring he loves it still. He cautioned colleagues to “temper” use of the filibuster, “Otherwise, it will be gone.”
And the 77-year-old gold miner’s son from tiny Searchlight, Nevada, reminisced about rising from a hardscrabble beginning to the heights of Capitol Hill and his “dream job” serving as Obama’s point man in Congress.
With his wife, Landra, and some of his five children and 19 grandchildren watching from the gallery, and Democrats and a handful of Republicans watching from the floor, Reid said: “I love the Senate, I don’t need to dwell on that. I love the Senate, I care about it so very, very much.”