After Months Of Promising To Compromise, Senate Democrats Say They 'Are Not Taking Up Anything' From The House

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): "We are not taking up anything they are working on over there." (Sen. Reid, Press Conference, 12/20/12)

• REID: "We are not going to do anything." (Sen. Reid, Press Conference, 12/20/12)

Reid Flashback: 'Waiting For' The House 'To Do Something'

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): "We are willing to compromise, but we also will not consign the middle class to higher tax bills while millionaires and billionaires avoid all the pain." (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.7364, 12/4/12)

• REID:  "…waiting for them to do something that will help the middle class. … All the president is asking - all we're asking is take care of the middle class and do something about the richest of the rich." (Sen. Reid, Press Conference, 12/13/12)

• REID: "Generally during a negotiation, each side brings an offer or demand to the table. That is how it has always worked. Then the two sides sit down and find middle ground. It is not always easy and it is rarely fun. True compromise means no one gets everything they want, but unless both sides come to the negotiating table with an offer, you can't even begin the negotiation. In fact, unless both sides come to the table with an offer, there is no negotiation." (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.7311, 12/3/12)

• REID: "Mr. President, in the weeks since our country voted to return President Obama to the White House and a Democratic majority in the Senate, I have spoken often about compromise. I remain optimistic that when it comes to our economy, when it comes to protecting middle-class families from a whopping tax hike come January 1, Republicans and Democrats will be able to find common ground. President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, once said:  People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. ..... There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. So said Dwight Eisenhower. Too often Republicans and Democrats in Washington face off from our entrenched positions, never realizing the solutions to this country's problems rest not on one side of the aisle or the other but somewhere in the middle." (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.6877, 11/26/12)

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