http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/reid-vs-white-house-tensions-cloud-majority-s-final-days-20141203December 3, 2014 This isn't how Harry Reid wanted to go out.
After losing his majority and seeing his top aide engage in a strangely public war of words with the White House, Reid suffered another humiliation: Last week, the Obama administration cut his legs out from under him on a tax deal he was trying to negotiate with the GOP, issuing a public veto threat from the White House before a deal was even struck. Reid threw in the towel—walking away from the negotiations and leaving the mess for another Democrat to sort out with Republicans, who are enjoying the fractious show across the aisle.
Reid told reporters Tuesday: "It's hard to veto a deal that doesn't exist. There was never an agreement reached to veto. ... For whatever reason, that ended the discussions."
These are just the latest signs in recent months of tension between Reid's office and the White House that have aides and members on the Hill privately rumbling about a strain between the administration and its top ally in Congress.
Staff-level arguments over electoral strategy leading up to the 2014 elections and blame-gaming in the wake of steep losses have deepened the apparent rift, which went public in explosive New York Times and Washington Post stories describing bitter relations between Reid's staff—namely, his top aide David Krone—and the White House.
"I don't know if it's the White House's fault or Harry Reid's fault. But it's obvious that there's not good communication between them," said Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, who was recently added to the Democrats' leadership roster but emphasized that he is "not a confidant of Harry Reid" and would not join leadership meetings until next year.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, a longtime Obama ally who opposed Reid's nomination to another term as Democratic leader, called the tensions the result of a "new reality," pointing to the sting of 2014 losses and the fact that two-thirds of the Democratic conference in the Senate has never had to serve in the minority. "There [is] automatically, after a loss—you know, 'Why did it happen? Did you do this wrong? Did we do this wrong?' So there's a little of that. That's not unusual," Kaine said.
Chief on the list of alleged mistakes by the White House is its handling of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, according to both Kaine and Jim Manley, a former Reid spokesman. "The idea that members were caught flat-footed because of a breakdown of a website is still, you know, rather kind of amazing," Manley said.
But Kaine noted that the White House also has "some things that they think the Senate could have done differently. The important thing is to have a discussion about, OK, let's all acknowledge we all had a hand in this. … The real issue now going ahead is, OK, what's the strategy? And that discussion is starting and it's starting within the caucus, but also in the White House."
These episodes have Senate Republicans gleefully discussing disarray on the Democratic side of the aisle, after growing used to repeated analysis about infighting in GOP ranks. In a press conference Tuesday, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune remarked on the recent "Democrat-on-Democrat violence" both within the conference and with the White House, pointing to the tax-extenders fight as merely the "most recent example."
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But the White House's move to dismiss Reid's negotiation over tax extenders has brought the issue back to the forefront of many minds on Capitol Hill. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said he was "very surprised" to see the administration undercut Reid in those negotiations. "It shows how stupid they are," he added.
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It remains unclear who leaked the details of the negotiations, which were kept in few hands. Those privy to the conversation included Reid, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, House Speaker John Boehner, House Financial Services Chairman Dave Camp—and the White House. Some in Reid's camp have speculated that the administration leaked the document in order to threaten a veto.
"I don't know who leaked it. There have been a bunch of leaks," the senior Democratic aide said, adding that there was a "miscommunication on what was being negotiated and how far along it was."
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