Democratic Leadership Chosen for the 112th Congress

November 16, 2010 — Today the Senate Democratic Caucus re-elected their leadership team for the 112th Congress. The caucus chose Nevada Senator Harry Reid to remain as Majority Leader, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois to continue as Whip and Assistant Majority Leader, New York Senator Charles Schumer to stay on as Vice Chair of the Demcratic Conference and Senator Patty Murray of Washington to remain Conference Secretary.

"It has been my great honor to lead this caucus for the past six years," said Reid. "I am grateful and humbled that my colleagues have asked me to continue to serve in that role. We have a great leadership team, and I'm looking forward to continuing our work together. We stand united and will work together toward a common purpose. Right now, that purpose is putting people back to work."

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Republicans Block Democrats' Efforts to Bring Jobs Back to the U.S.

September 28, 2010 — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked consideration of a bill that would punish companies that ship American jobs overseas. Democrats believe we need to do everything we can to encourage companies to "make it in America" instead of sending jobs abroad. "The current system even encourages companies to ask their employees to train their foreign replacements," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "That's a slap in the face to hard-working Americans." The way to grow our economy and drive our recovery is to create jobs here at home, and remove policies that encourage companies from outsourcing to foreign countries. Republicans should stop protecting offshoring CEOs and join with Democrats to begin giving companies incentives to create positions in America.

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Senate Passes Bill to Help Small Businesses

September 16, 2010 — Democrats led the Senate in passing the Small Business Jobs Creation Bill, legislation that cuts taxes for small businesses and improves access to the capital they need to grow and hire more workers. This bill provides billions of dollars of lending and investment to small businesses across the country. Additionally, the bill makes available $12 billion in immediate tax cuts for small business owners. This timely support for entrepreneurs -- which is fully paid-for -- should create hundreds of thousands of jobs. "We are already working with the administration and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Karen Mills to implement these provisions, all of which are created to help small businesses owners generate new, good-paying jobs for the 14 million Americans still out of work today," said Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. "This bill is just the first step to putting small businesses at the forefront of our economic recovery."

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Senate Passes Teacher Funding & Aid to States

August 5, 2010 — Today the Senate passed legislation that will prevent thousands of layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters, and provide funding to states struggling to close budget deficits. This additional funding wil preserve approximately 160,000 teacher jobs and 150,000 first responders jobs. Besides curtailing massive layoffs, this bill will prevent cuts to after-school programs, increases in class sizes and plans in some areas of the country to shorten the school week from five days to four. In addition, the state aid will increase the federal contribution toward Medicaid costs and save thousands of government jobs.

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Elena Kagan Confirmation
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

Elena Kagan has been confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by the U.S. Senate.
 
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke about Solicitor General Kagan when her nomination was announced: "I believe that through her confirmation process, Elena Kagan will demonstrate that her primary allegiance is to fairness, justice and the rule of law, not ideology. When Solicitor General Kagan is confirmed, the Supreme Court will have three sitting female Justices for the first time - a historic occurrence that is long overdue."

• YouTube Channel - Video highlights from the Kagan nomination

Wall Street Reform

May 20, 2010 —Following the 2008 financial crisis, Senate Democrats resolved to pursue bold action to rein in Wall Street's greedy, reckless practices and protect consumers. Shortly before the Memorial Day recess, Senate Democrats led the effort to pass the Restoring American Financial Stability bill, which brings accountability to Wall Street and creates a sound foundation to grow our economy and create jobs. "To Wall Street, it says: no longer can you recklessly gamble away other people's money," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "To Main Street, this bill says: you no longer have to fear that your savings, your retirement or your home are at the mercy of greedy gamblers in big banks."

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First Bill in the Senate Jobs Agenda Passes with Bipartisan Support

February 24, 2010 —Following the passage of the Senate's first jobs bill, the HIRE Act, Democratic Senators heralded the vote as a signal that the Senate's jobs agenda is on the right track. "Today's progress is a small, but important step forward," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Highlighting efforts by both Democrats and Republicans to pass the bill, Sen. Chuck Schumer said, "To focus on jobs and to do it in a bipartisan way is what the American people are asking us to do and today we've started down that road," said Sen. Chuck Schumer.

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Senate Passes Health Care Reform: A Victory for the American People

December 24, 2009 —The United States Senate witnessed an historic moment this morning, as 60 Democratic Senators cast their votes in favor of passing health reform legislation. This bill's passage has been supported by at least six decades of advocacy from supporters of reform who understand the cost of inaction on this critical issue. Noting the historic nature of this morning's vote, Senator Chris Dodd remarked, "This is the most important bill to improve the economic security of our middle class in a generation. And none of us will ever cast a more important vote." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - who led his colleagues through months of deliberations said, "For thousands of Nevadans and millions of Americans, this is not just a remarkable moment in the history of the country - this news is truly life-changing. We are a step closer to promoting a health system that values quality of care over profit. I look forward to working with our friends in the House so we can send a final bill to President Obama as soon as possible."

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Introducing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

November 19, 2009 —Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today announced the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the Senate health care bill - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- highlighting the expansion in coverage and reduction to the federal deficit. This legislation will cut the deficit by $127 billion, extend coverage to more than 94% of Americans and insure 31 million more of the uninsured. This bill, "saves lives, saves money and protects Medicare. Not only do we make health insurance affordable for every American, we certainly do it in a fiscally responsible way," said Reid.

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