Sen. Vitter: Reid is Getting Rid of Bipartisanship

Even before news that the Senate’s Democratic majority had decided to “go nuclear” and disallow filibusters for some judicial nominees, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was expressing his strong displeasure with the way that Majority Leader Harry Reid is running the Senate.

According to Vitter, “Reid is bringing his mismanagement of the Senate to a new low, and he shut down amendments for defense authorization. He’s allowing a very few that only he gets to approve.”

In an interview on Thursday’s Secure Freedom Radio, Vitter in particular criticized the swiftness with which Reid is expected to push the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014 through the Senate.

It was typical, Vitter said, “not too long ago, for our defense authorization bill to be on the floor two, two and a half weeks, [an] open amendment process. [We would] have at least a couple of dozen amendment votes; have at least a couple of dozen other non-controversial amendments adopted by voice. And that was a thoroughly bipartisan process that really focused on defense.”

Rushed debate on the NDAA is of particular alarm for Vitter because of provisions in it relating to Guantanamo Bay. “I am scared to death what happens when, for instance, a trial doesn’t go well” and results in a terrorist’s “actual release into this country,” Vitter said, referencing language that loosens restrictions on transferring Gitmo detainees into the US.

When asked about missile defense, even though very concerned about the direction it’s heading, Vitter did speak with some optimism when discussing the progress it’s made. “When Ronald Reagan first brought this issue up it was completely derided and dismissed. It was called ‘Star Wars.’ And the establishment really tried to suggest it was a completely unserious proposal. We’ve won that basic debate, that’s the good news.”

However, he said, “The challenge and the bad news is that with folks in the Obama administration, they’re trying to narrow what we’re doing every month, every day, every week. So they admit, yes, we need missile defense in theory, but in practice it’s very, very limited for very specific threats. But as you know better than me, the threat field is multiplying every month. Threats are coming from all sorts of directions, and that’s why we need a robust system with overlapping protections, and we’re not pursuing anything like that.”

In particular, Vitter discussed President Obama’s handling of New START and reports that he plans to cut the US’s ICBM force. “President Obama said whatever it took to pass that treaty, to get it ratified in the Senate. He made all sorts of promises in terms of nuclear modernization and in terms of what he wouldn’t do, lessening the nuclear force. And he’s broken plenty of those promises.”

Sardonically, Vitter concluded that “nobody should be surprised, particularly as we debate the promise that if you like your healthcare you can keep it.”