WASHINGTON -- Harry Reid feels sorry for John Boehner. Sort of. But not in a good way.
The Democratic Senate Majority Leader did declare such a feeling for the Republican Speaker of the House Tuesday. But first, he reeled off a string of what he sees as Boehner's failures, from the Ohio Republican's inability to pass a farm bill just before the July 4 break to the House's lack of action on the Senate's budget bill, Internet sales taxes and postal reforms, among other items.
"Pick an issue," Reid (D-Nev.) said. "He has dissension in his own ranks. We know that."
The farm bill failed when too many of Boehner's fellow Republican members voted against the bipartisan measure -- after Boehner granted them an amendment on food stamps that cost the bill support among Democrats.
Reid laid into Boehner after he was asked about the House speaker's refusal to bring up the Senate's immigration reform measure, which passed Reid's body with 68 votes, including 14 Republicans. Reid has snipped at Boehner before over immigration, saying the Ohio Republican is being driven by the "crazies" in his caucus. He has also vowed not to help Boehner stall for time on the farm bill, which expires at the end of September.
"I guess I feel sorry for the Speaker," Reid concluded, not sounding all that sorry.
Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.
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