Obama, Biden honor Senator Reid as a man who ‘gets the job done’ – Orange County Register

By KEN RITTER and DARLENE SUPERVILLE

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Former President Barack Obama paid tribute to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday as someone who “got the job done,” as leaders Democrats talk about Reid’s impact on some of the most important legislation of the 21st century, from health care to Wall Street reform.

Voter turnout at Reid’s memorial in Las Vegas is testament to his legacy, as he rose from an impoverished childhood to become an influential congressional leader. President Joe Biden escorted Reid’s widow, Landra Reid, to her seat at the start of work before an honor guard carried the flag-covered coffin to the well of an enclosed auditorium.

Reid died December 28 at his home in Henderson, Nevada, at the age of 82 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

“Do not have any doubts. Harry Reid will be considered one of the greatest Senate majority leaders in history,” Biden said. Speakers appreciated Reid’s work in strengthening health care, reforming Wall Street, and recovering from the 2008 recession as part of what is billed as one of the national sessions. most consequential society of modern times.

Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who described Reid to mourners as a “really honest and original character,” spoke at a memorial service. invitation only.

Obama, who credits Reid for joining the White House, spoke in his eulogy.

When Reid helped pass the Affordable Care Act early in Obama’s first term, “he didn’t do it to burnish his own legacy,” Obama said. When Reid was a boy, Obama explained, Reid’s family was so poor that “he didn’t even know” what healthcare was. When a tooth deteriorated, his father pulled it out himself. A brother let a broken leg heal on its own.

In Reid’s work in Washington, “he did it for people back home and families like him who needed someone to look after them, when no one else was. Harry got the job done,” said Obama.

“About Harry, he never gives up. He never gave up. He never gave up on anyone who cared about him,” said Biden, who served Reid in the Senate for two decades and worked with him for eight years when Biden was vice president.

“If Harry said he was going to do something, he did it,” Biden added. “You can rely on it.”

A prominent and humorous theme throughout the funeral was ‘Harry Reiding’ – Reid’s habit of abruptly ending phone calls without saying goodbye.

“I have to tell you, every time I hear the dial tone, I think of Harry,” Biden told the mourners.

Reid’s son Leif sought to explain his father’s famous habits, a move that sometimes causes the other – whether a powerful politician or a close family – to chat for a few minutes before accepting it. he is no longer there.

“I was probably hanged by Harry Reid the most, two or three times a day, for 12 years,” Pelosi said.

“Sometimes I even call him back and say, ‘Harry, I’m singing your praises,'” Pelosi said. Reid replied, “I don’t want to hear it,” she said, before she heard the phone ring dead again.

Leif Reid says it’s “part of the story” about his father’s life, and a gesture about Reid preserving family time.

“When he hung up on you, maybe too quickly, it wasn’t so much about him being tough as he was about being totally devoted to my mom,” says Leif Reid. All four of his siblings also spoke at the memorial service.

Reid served 34 years in Washington and led the Senate through a bad recession and Republican takeover of the House after the 2010 election.

Harry Mason Reid hitchhiked 40 miles (64 km) to high school and was an amateur boxer before being elected to the Nevada State Assembly at the age of 28. He graduated from Wyoming State University and worked on the board. night as a US Capitol police officer while attending George Washington. University Law School in Washington.

In 1970, at the age of 30, he was elected governor of the state along with Democratic Governor Mike O’Callaghan. Reid was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 and the Senate in 1986.

He built a political machine in Nevada over the years that helped Democrats win key elections. When he retired in 2016 after an exercise accident at home left him blind in one eye, he chose former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to replace him.

Cortez Masto became the first woman from Nevada and the first Latina ever elected to the United States Senate.

Reid’s body will be taken to Washington for burial at the Capitol, and another ceremony will be held there on Wednesday.

Las Vegas host of services on Saturday, Marcus Faust, said Reid’s coffin will return to Nevada for burial at the family estate in Searchlight.

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This story has been edited to say that Obama was talking about Reid’s father pulling out a bad tooth himself, not Reid having his father’s tooth extracted.