Harry Reid: “first of all, the President, I repeat, is doing the right thing. The right thing is having Congress do its work. This is…”

“first of all, the President, I repeat, is doing the right thing. The right thing is having Congress do its work. This is all a game. Now if we could complete our work by Tuesday, it seems to me if people hung around here and did their work now--they said they have to start reading the bill--let them read it now. I also say if people want to expedite matters and challenge the President's authority, I am standing right where I am today and yesterday. I said we will agree on a voice vote to the tax bill and send it to the White House this afternoon. Nope, objections from the other side. They wouldn't let us do that. They wouldn't let us do that. They are here stalling for reasons that some of us are having a little trouble determining, but they are stalling. They have continued to stall. That is why we wouldn't get any appropriations bills passed until very recently. My friend from Pennsylvania said there is no factual variance. I was going to run through some of those, but the analogy is something like this. He says we gave the President 90 percent of what he wanted. Whether that is right or not, the point is, it is like a football game. You go to the 10-yard line and you almost make a touchdown; does that mean you should get the score? The answer is no. The score should not be given to the majority because they have not done their work. They haven't even gotten to the 10-yard line. I say Members should be here working. The President is saying we should work.”