It’s that eery time during intense negotiations of any kind when hours of silence go by and each side waits for the other to blink.
Democrats were the last to draw a line in the sand over the abortion riders Republicans are demanding be included in the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and nearly a dozen other Democrats gathered en mass in the Capitol early Friday afternoon to denounce Republicans’ insistence on using budget negotiations to play politics with women’s health.
For the most part, the event was pure political posturing, with the most candid and amusing moment coming when the mikes caught Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) whispering message points to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) who then repeated them.
There was one substantive line that caught the attention of reporters but has yet to be fully explained. During the press conference, Reid said Senate Democrats and Republicans had agreed to a compromise overall spending figure of $38 billion, but early this morning, Republicans reneged.
“All we need for them to say is the agreement we made last night will be fulfilled,” Reid said. “We’re happy to analyze any deal, but remember there’s no question about the number. Everybody understands that.”
A reporter asked Reid what he meant by that comment, and Reid explained that he and Boehner had agreed to $38 billion with no abortion riders but in the wee hours of the early morning, he received an e-mail from Boehner’s office saying that number was no longer sufficient.
“John Boehner is having a difficult time in his caucus and I give him that, but that does not mean that we can’t have an agreement when agreement was reached,” he said. “I don’t know what happened last night, but at 4 a.m. in the morning I got an e-mail saying we tried but they backed off the number they agreed to.”
No one would elaborate about the e-mail and its significance. Boehner’s and Reid’s offices did not respond to a request for further comment.
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