Key Dem: Reid scrapped jobs bill because he did not trust Republicans

A key Democratic senator on Friday said that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scrapped the bipartisan jobs bill presented Thursday because he thought Republicans would not support it.

Senate Finance Committee member Tom Carper (D-Del.), whose panel crafted the original bill, said that Reid questioned the GOP's willingess to support the $80 billion package in a closed meeting even though it was supported by the panel's ranking Republican Chuck Grassley (Iowa).

"Senator Reid met with Max Baucus, he met with Senator Chuck Grassley, he met with Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid, our leader came out of the meeting he just didn't feel encouraged that Republican colleagues would, in the end, play fair and square," Carper said on Fox Business Network.

Reid announced Thursday that he would pare down the jobs bills crafted by Grassley and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) 

A spokesperson for Grassley accused Reid of pulling the rug out from under efforts to gain bipartisan support for the bill for which the White House had offered its support just hours earlier.

The new $15 million package comes after Democrats complained that it contained too many Republican concessions. Reid reportedly dropped $31 billion in tax extenders after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) failed to endorse the bill.

Even though Carper's remark might rankle Republicans, he still called on GOP senators to vote for the new bill when it comes to a vote after the President's Day recess.

"In the end, if the Republicans want to play rope-a-dope, they'll be exposed and if they don't then we'll get something good done," he said.

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