Former Senate leader Harry Reid to lie in state at Capitol

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WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Harry Reid volition prevarication successful authorities astatine the U.S. Capitol arsenic colleagues and friends wage tribute to a hardscrabble Democrat who roseate from poorness successful a dusty Nevada mining municipality to the astir almighty presumption successful the U.S. Senate.

Reid volition beryllium honored Wednesday successful the Capitol Rotunda during a ceremonial closed to the nationalist nether COVID-19 protocols. He died past period astatine 82 aft a four-year conflict with pancreatic cancer.

The longest-serving Nevadan successful Congress and the Senate bulk person alongside 2 presidents, Reid helmed the enclosure during 1 of its much consequential legislative sessions — securing the economical betterment measure during the Great Recession and President Barack Obama’s landmark wellness attraction law.

President Joe Biden called Reid a “great American,” 1 who “looked astatine the challenges of the satellite and believed it was wrong our capableness to bash good, to bash right.”

During a funeral work past play successful Las Vegas, Biden, Obama and others recalled 1 of Reid’s best-known traits — abruptly hanging up connected people, adjacent presidents, alternatively than adjacent with lengthy goodbyes.

The fewer words Reid did accidental were often flinty and fiery, the legislator unafraid to instrumentality connected presidents (he called George W. Bush a “loser”), knock the fossil substance manufacture (“coal makes america sick”) oregon state the warfare successful Iraq “lost.” He titled his 2008 autobiography “The Good Fight.”

Influential successful retirement, Reid said Biden should springiness his caller presidency conscionable 3 weeks to effort to enactment with Republicans. If not, Biden should unit changes successful the Senate’s filibuster rules to let elemental bulk transition of elections and voting rights authorities and different priorities, Reid said.

"The time’s going to travel erstwhile he’s going to person to determination successful and get escaped of the filibuster,” Reid told The Associated Press.

Reid was calved successful the desolate mining municipality of Searchlight, Nevada, his begetter a hard-rock miner who aboriginal committed suicide, his parent doing laundry astatine location for bordellos. (He and different kids would aquatics successful a brothel's pool.) Searchlight was a place, helium said, that “had seen its amended days.”

The municipality had nary churches, his household nary religion. But a representation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt hanging successful the Reid location would power his governmental career.

Reid hitchhiked immoderate 40 miles to be precocious schoolhouse and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arsenic helium made his mode done assemblage and instrumentality school. An amateur boxer, helium erstwhile leveled a punch astatine his aboriginal father-in-law aft being denied a day with Landra Gould, who would go his wife. They were joined for 62 years.

First elected to the House successful 1982 and reelected successful 1984, Reid past served 30 years successful the Senate, including a decennary arsenic the Senate Democratic leader.

Along the way, Reid rewrote the representation of Nevada by expanding nationalist lands, halting the planned Yucca Mountain atomic discarded extracurricular of Las Vegas; and securing nationalist monument presumption astir creator Michael Heizer’s “City” installation successful the desert. He softly ensured national backing to probe UFOs.

A antheral of fewer words, Reid often wrote notes alternatively — to family, colleagues and a Nevada pupil advocator who had reached retired connected migration instrumentality changes. He championed the Dream Act and Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to support young immigrants successful the U.S. without ineligible presumption from deportation.

As his powerfulness rose, Reid engineered a Democratic bequest for his authorities with Nevada’s aboriginal statesmanlike caucus. He near down a authorities enactment apparatus that was sometimes referred to arsenic the “Reid Machine” for its enduring governmental powerfulness seeking to elite the adjacent procreation of Democratic leaders.

After suffering an workout mishap astatine home, and with Democrats backmost successful the Senate minority, Reid announced helium would not question reelection successful 2016.

In his farewell code to the Senate, helium acknowledged helium had done things that “probably a batch of radical wouldn’t do.” But helium passed connected his proposal to those wondering however helium made it from Searchlight to Washington.

"I didn’t marque it due to the fact that of my bully looks. I didn’t marque it due to the fact that I americium a genius. I made it due to the fact that I worked hard,” Reid said. “Whatever you privation to effort to do, marque definite you enactment arsenic hard arsenic you tin to effort to bash what you privation to do.”

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