Tennessee U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander slammed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday, saying Senate Democrats are to blame for the current holdup of a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through November.
“I’ll give the Senate Democratic leader most of the credit: He manufactured a crisis all week when there was no crisis,” Mr. Alexander said Sunday.
“Everybody knows we’re going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares and that FEMA certifies,” Mr. Alexander insisted. “The House sent over a bill that does that and the Senate should have approved it.”
The Tennessee Republican, who is stepping down from Senate Republican leadership, made the comment during his latest appearance on CNN. Mr. Alexander joined the chorus of Republican criticism directed at Senate Democrats. Speaking earlier this week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor also placed the blame squarely on Mr. Reid, saying “Harry Reid is arguing with himself — this is why people don’t like Washington.”
The comments follow a statement from Mr. Reid, who said earlier this week that House Republicans loyal to the Tea Party movement were responsible for dysfunction on Capitol Hill.
The House early Friday narrowly approved a stopgap spending measure to keep the federal government funded through November 18, as Republican leaders scrambled to find additional votes for a Republican-backed measure. The Senate rejected the bill Friday afternoon, raising the prospect of a government shutdown.
