Shorty after Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) was elected, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Moran that the Senate would not do anything until after the 2012 presidential election.
"I was standing on the Senate floor and I was approached by Sen. Reid," Moran said during a speech Thursday hosted by the Ripon Society. "I knew Sen. Reid from my days in the House. Sen. Reid had a locker just a few down from me in the House gym, and we’d see each other each morning for a long number of years. And Sen. Reid that day, in a casual conversation, asked me, ‘Jerry, how do you like the Senate?’ My response was that I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given. But Leader, we’re not doing anything. Sen. Reid’s response was, ‘Jerry, you need to understand that we’re not going to do anything until after the election.’"
Moran recounted the story while he was explaining what prompted him to take a job as chairman of National Republican Senatorial Committee."When you get elected to public office, and there are very few elections that are easy and most of us are motivated by the desire to do something, and to be told at that stage —almost two years before the next election— that nothing was going to be done, was an eye-opening experience to me and was very troublesome," Moran said.
"And so my interest in serving in the NRSC capacity really revolves around a desire to see the Senate function, to have regular order, to have the opportunity for Americans to see their Senators have a debate, to have votes occur and to have the country see the Senate move in the direction it ought to go."
Reid's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Moran was appointed chairman of the NRSC in late 2012 and immediately named Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) as vice chairmen.
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