The Las Vegas Sun has been following the antics actions of their favorite senator quite closely this December, particularly with respect to online poker legislation (see timeline below.)
But today, just a little more than a day after the second lameduck session of 111th Congress ended, the Sun chose to say nothing at all about #reidbill in this story published at 2am entitled \”For Harry Reid, it’s been the best of times, worst of times.\”
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LV Sun Articles: Timeline
NOTE: Dec 2nd -> #reidbill announced to public via Wall Street Journal article
Dec 3rd -> \”Harry Reid pushes bill to allow for online gambling\”
Dec 7th -> \”Harry Reid rushes effort to legalize Internet poker\”
Dec 9th a.k.a. zombie-bill-day -> Is it dead? -or- Is it alive?
Dec 10th -> \”Casino trade group supports Internet poker bill\”
Dec 15th -> \”Letter: Legalizing online poker of no help to average Nevadans\”
Dec 15th -> \”Reid, Republicans in spat over Christmas session\”
Dec 17th -> \”All bets off: Online poker bill dealt possible death blow\”
Dec 19th -> \”Senate passes food safety bill, again – Sunday, Dec. 19\”
Dec 22nd -> \”9/11 health care bill still on Reid’s agenda\”
NOTE: Dec 22 -> 2nd session of lame duck adjourned \”sine die\” (adjourned for an indefinite period)
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In this article, writer Karoun Demirjian gives the \”lion\’s share\” of props for the work the 111th Congress has done to Reid, and said that for the NV senator:
… on the professional front, things have never been better.
Scholars and pundits of all political persuasions agree that the 111th Congress has been the most productive the country has seen since at least the “Great Society†years of 1960s, if not ever.
The lion’s share of the credit goes to Reid, who as majority leader in the Senate was the ultimate stopgap: If he could find a way around blocks, filibusters and changing majorities, bills passed; if he couldn’t, they died.
“If we had accomplished in any prior Congress that I’ve been involved in 10 percent of what we were able to do this Congress, we’d be celebrating by turning back flips,†Reid said in his office on Wednesday, barely an hour after the Senate had ratified the New Start treaty with Russia, its last major piece of work before breaking for the holidays.
“Think of the stuff that we’ve done.â€
A partial list is considerable, even if some of the measures were controversial: The stimulus, health care overhaul and Wall Street reform; and bills to repeal the military’s policy against gays serving openly, strengthen equal-pay laws and give the Food and Drug Administration more power to regulate food safety and tobacco.
With Republicans coming to power in the House in less than two weeks, it’s likely we’ve not heard the last word on some of those issues — especially the stimulus and health care, which Reid counts as his biggest accomplishments.
And also talks about what his *priorities* are in the next session of Congress:
Reid said his job for the next two years is to be a “cooling vessel for the heat of the House of Representatives.â€
“It’s going to be much easier than it was,†Reid said.
Of course, that outlook doesn’t quite square with the to-do list Reid seems to have going in his head for the next session.
Amid all the activity, Congress failed to take significant steps in three major areas of the president’s agenda that are vitally important to struggling Nevada.
Energy legislation, a subject with huge implications for Nevada’s new renewables industry, not to mention Yucca Mountain, never happened. Neither did wide-scale, pre-collegiate education reform, or anything on immigration — a controversial topic nationally that has emerged as the key policy issue for Nevada’s Hispanic population, which made up 16 percent of the midterm electorate.
After being decidedly on-the-record regarding the subject in the past three weeks, kinda odd this Nevada newspaper is choosing not to mention the one topic closest to the wallets of Reid\’s key supporters in the most recent election, and undoubtedly the minds of Pokerati\’s readers, leaving us to ask:
<<>> Just where is internet poker legislation on Harry Reid\’s \”to-do list\”? <<>>