Reid: GOP wasting time on ‘symbolic votes’ like healthcare repeal

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) castigated Republicans on Thursday for wasting time on “symbolic votes” like healthcare repeal.

Reid said it is time for the Senate to return to business and that it must move on from healthcare repeal, which senators rejected on Wednesday in a 47-51 vote.

“We can't waste any more time on symbolic votes,” said Reid. “The fight to repeal the patients’ rights in the healthcare reform law is behind us. Points have been made, the votes have been counted and like the majority of the American people, the Senate has decide that the law of the land is better than the broken system it replaced.”

“I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about healthcare because the vote speaks for itself,” he added.

Reid said he wants to focus on passing the still-pending Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill and creating jobs for the American people.

“There are currently bits and pieces of good news [about the economy],” Reid said. “But there's not enough, for sure. We can't assume we're back to normal. We can’t let down our guard.”

Reid noted that a nearly identical FAA bill passed the Senate unanimously last year and expressed hope it would draw the same bipartisan support this year.

The Senate won’t just be talking about the FAA on Thursday. At 1 p.m., the chamber will pause legislative business to begin a two-hour tribute to mark what would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday on Feb. 6.

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