Then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and then-Vice President Joe Biden at a December 2016 event on Capitol Hill. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Joe Biden praised former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who died on Tuesday at age 82, for being one of the "all-time great Senate Majority Leaders."
What he's saying: Biden noted in a statement that "for Harry, it wasn't about power for power’s sake. It was about the power to do right for the people."
- During the two decades he and Reid served in the Senate, and the eight years they worked together when he was vice president, "Harry met the marker for what I’ve always believed is the most important thing by which you can measure a person — their action and their word," Biden said.
- "If Harry said he would do something, he did it. If he gave you his word, you could bank on it. That’s how he got things done for the good of the country for decades," the president added.
"Under his watch as Senate Majority Leader, Harry helped pass the Recovery Act to prevent another Great Depression. He helped rescue the American auto industry. He helped pass the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and ratified the New Start Treaty."— President Biden
The latest: Biden on Wednesday ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff on the day of Reid's burial, which has not yet been announced.
Go deeper: Political heavyweights remember "one of a kind" Harry Reid