GOP senator knocks Reid for blocking bill before hurricane

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) chastised Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday for blocking a first responders bill, arguing it could help emergency teams heading to areas impacted by Hurricane Matthew. 

“Brave Ohioans are heading into the hurricane-affected areas of Florida today and the bill that would guarantee their jobs when they return has yet to be passed due to the petty partisan politics of Harry Reid,” Portman said in a statement Friday. “The private citizens who are risking their lives to help their fellow citizens deserve more from the Minority Leader.” 

{mosads}He added that the Senate should pass his bill as soon as lawmakers return to Washington in mid-November. 

The Ohio Republican’s bill would bolster job protections for private citizens who temporarily leave their jobs to join search-and-rescue teams traveling to disaster areas. 

Portman tried to pass his legislation — the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act — by unanimous consent before the Senate left town last month, but the move required the agreement of every senator, and Reid objected. 

The outgoing Democratic leader tied the legislative stalemate to an entrenched fight over Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, whom Republicans have refused to give a hearing or a vote. 

“Common sense dictates to me that Republicans who run the Senate had months to turn their attention to bills like this,” Reid said. “They also have had months to do something else. After almost 200 days, we have been waiting, waiting for the Republicans to have a hearing with Merrick Garland.” 

Reid, at the time, requested Portman link passing his bill to taking up Garland’s nomination. The Ohio Republican objected on behalf of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

At the time Reid blocked the bill, Matthew was just a tropical storm off the coast of Venezuela.

Republicans have charged Reid with bringing election-year politics to the Senate floor. In addition to blocking Portman’s bill, he also recently blocked separate proposals from GOP Sens. Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.). 

Toomey, Portman and Johnson are each up for reelection in purple states previously carried by President Obama. 

Though Portman has pulled away in polling from former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D), Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are races at the heart of the Democratic strategy to regain the Senate majority. 

With Republicans defending 24 seats, Democrats need to net five seats — or four if they also retain the White House — to take back control of the upper chamber. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said the Nevada Democrat is “using political gamesmanship to hold up noncontroversial as well as bipartisan legislation by mostly Republican members who are up for reelection this year. Why isn’t the so-called objective media reporting on this?” 

Reid fired back at the time that if “the senior senator from Iowa is looking for pure unfiltered partisanship. Next time he combs his hair or shaves, look in the mirror, that’s where he’ll see it.”

This story was updated at 2:58 p.m.