Senator Reid: America needs honest leadership

[SVZ]

Sen. Reid: America Needs Honest Leadership

Jan 21, 2006

WASHINGTON

President Bush should reform the corrupted politics of the nation's capital to provide honest leadership for Americans, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Saturday.

Republicans "have absolute power, and it has corrupted their party and led to the culture of corruption that we now have in Washington, D.C.," the Nevada senator said in the weekly Democratic radio address. "It is time now for the president to put an end to this pattern of deceit."

From national security policy to energy legislation, Reid criticized the GOP administration on multiple fronts. He took particular aim at the Medicare prescription drug program.

"The state of the union today is that we have low-income Americans begging for their prescription drugs, and seniors are going without any coverage," Reid said. "The president has botched the Medicare so badly that it doesn't resemble a 'benefit' for most seniors."

Many older Americans have complained of being denied medication since the drug benefit plan began this month.

Reid said a reform plan outlined by the Democrats on Wednesday would provide for honest government, but this goal is not a partisan issue.

"It is a key to a stronger union," he said. "When leaders are accountable to people, not lobbyists, there is no limit to what America can do."

"We can be energy independent, have affordable health care and a strong economy," Reid said. "All it takes is a commitment in Washington to put progress, not politics, first."