Reid calls GOP's bluff, proposes work on defense authorization before adjourning

After months of criticism about the matter, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) proposed taking up the defense authorization act earlier Saturday morning before the Senate adjourned for the elections.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) objected saying Reid didn’t give GOP member the proper notification that the measure would be called up.

“[Sen. John] McCain (R-Ariz.) had been asking for the defense authorization bill for weeks,” Kyl said. “After everyone is gone [Reid] asks to take it up … but everyone knows that you can’t get unanimous consent from people who aren’t here.

“What mostly bothers me most is the implication that the leader wants to take it up and Republicans are objecting.”

Reid insisted that he had been told that McCain was aware of his request to start work on the defense authorization bill, which allocates fund to the Department of Defense and military branches.

Reid said that Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) had told him that McCain was aware that he was going to offer the measure.

“McCain knew that this was going to happen,” Reid said. “ [But] I’m not surprised this was being held up.”

Kyl said he hoped the Senate can take up the defense authorization act when it returned from recess after the November elections.

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