Reid Shows Signs That He Does Not Have 60 Votes for His Bill [Video]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid does not have the votes to pass his own debt ceiling bill. Reid spent Friday night addressing the Senate in an attempt to blame Republicans for his inability to garner 60 vote support in the Senate for his legislation.

Reid has 53 democrats that will vote for just about anything he puts in front of them. If he wants 7 more votes, he would have to compromise, but not much. He doesn’t want to negotiate – at all. That will delay the debt ceiling proceedings at least one more day.

The reason for the delay is cloture. A cloture vote would have ended debate and set it to a vote for passage. Reid refused McConnell’s offer for a cloture vote and that then requires a super-majority (60-vote threshold) to pass.

Considering the vote to table House Speaker Boehner’s bill only passed 59-41, Reid may have every reason to worry.

Here’e the video: GOP’s McConnell offers to give Reid an immediate vote on his bill and Reid turns it down while simultaneously calling the maneuver a GOP filibuster.

Now Reid may have trouble getting a single, large debt ceiling hike through the Senate and the despite moderate GOPers casting dispersion at them, the Tea Party holding the line may well have forced him to compromise for the first time in several years.