Byrd Says Reagan Doesn’t Need to Be a Lame Duck
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd urged President Reagan today to abandon his “bitterly partisan” politics and avoid two years as a lame-duck leader of the United States.
“If he is not obstructionist we will work together,” Byrd told reporters. “I have never seen so partisan a White House as with this President. I hope the President and his people will not be so bitterly partisan.
“President Reagan does not need to be a lame duck, if he is realistic,” he said, adding that the “loud and clear” message of the election was that the American people want more balance in the government’s decision-making.
After six years in the minority, Democrats seized control of the Senate in Tuesday’s election, producing a remarkably strong 55-45 margin and ousting incumbent Republicans from coast to coast.
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