Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he has President Obama’s back when the White House announces its immigration plans to grant temporary amnesty to illegal immigrants, and defended his own party’s lack of action when it had total control of Congress and the White House in 2009 and 2010.
“I think it should be done now,” Mr. Reid told Univision in an interview Monday, tamping down on reports that he wanted the president to wait until after Congress finishes up the annual spending bills.
The Nevada Democrat also urged Mr. Obama to “go big, as big as he can” — including granting amnesty, or work permits and a halt from deportations, to illegal immigrant parents of so-called Dreamers.
Mr. Reid also said he doubted the GOP would let the president’s actions “poison the well,” as some Republican leaders have said, on other business going forward.
“Immigration shouldn’t prevent Senator McConnell and I from working together,” Mr. Reid said. “Why would this cause any problem between McConnell and Reid? I’ve said many times in the last week or so, the election’s over, we should move on and get something done for the American people.”
Mr. Reid led a Senate with 60 members of the Democratic Caucus in 2009 — enough to overcome a GOP-led filibuster — yet didn’t take up immigration during that time. But he told Univision his party had to tackle health care instead.
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“We passed health care, we had a big agenda of stuff to do,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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