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Reid: Defense Bill ‘Gesture in Futility’

By JM Rieger and Niels Lesniewski

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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., thinks Armed Services Chairman John McCain is going to be wasting his time managing the defense authorization bill on the floor over the next few weeks. While Reid said Tuesday he and his caucus would not stand in the way of starting debate on the bill, he stopped short of saying Democrats would not filibuster it on the floor. “I like [McCain] very much. He’s opinionated. I am once in a while,” Reid said. “When he first saw what they had done to the defense authorization bill [funding structure], he went sky-high, ‘How can they do this? It’s wrong!’ Now he’s joining with them in doing this. I think that until they do something with getting rid of sequestration, it’s a gesture in futility what they’re doing.” Read more.

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