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Reid on Lieberman: ‘Open and Honest’ Relationship

Updated: 3 p.m.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday released a statement that appeared to contradict a New York Times Magazine story that suggests he felt betrayed by Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) when Lieberman said he would filibuster the Senate health care reform bill if it contained a Medicare expansion.“Senator Lieberman and I have a very open and honest working relationship. On issues ranging from foreign policy to health care, even when we disagree, he has always been straight forward with me,— Reid said.Throughout the health care debate, Lieberman was on the record as being opposed to the public insurance option. He had said he would filibuster any bill that included the public option before he vowed to filibuster a measure that expands Medicare. Both the public option and the Medicare expansion were stripped from the bill before the Senate passed its revamp on Christmas Eve.According to the New York Times Magazine story, Reid said he felt betrayed by Lieberman, who had assured him that he would support the Medicare expansion, according to the report. Lieberman on Wednesday strongly disputed the story.In response to Reid, Lieberman issued a statement of his own Thursday,saying: “I appreciate Senator Reid’s statement in response to the comments attributed to him in the New York Times Magazine. As Senator Reid indicated in his statement, he believes, as do I, that we have always been honest with each other and any suggestion otherwise is simply false and contrary to the truth.—

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