They're all coming up, right here on "Meet the Press."
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RUSSERT: And we are back, with the new leader of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada.
Welcome.
REID: Thank you very much.
RUSSERT: In 1994, when the Republicans seized control of both houses of Congress, this is what Senator Harry Reid said: "We all have to swallow a little bit of our pride and go toward the middle."
Is that still your advice to the Democrats?
REID: I think there's no question about it. You know, we don't accomplish anything on the far right and far left. Things are accomplished in the middle. We have to work toward the middle. And I think that that's clear. I feel no differently than I did 10 years ago.
RUSSERT: There were a lot of eyebrows raised across the town when the Las Vegas Review Journal and The Hill newspaper reported this: "Harry Reid, the incoming Senate minority leader, said he is forming a communications, quote, 'war room,' to promote Democratic messages and respond to Republican criticism."
Is creating a war room the prescription to try to solve the partisan problems we face right now?
REID: Well, I think the "war room" designation is something that comes from inside Washington. What I have created is a communications center, where we're going to take some of the resources that are already there and make sure that, when someone comes to the Senate floor to give a speech, that talk radio stations know what that person had to say.
We're going to communicate with the American people to make sure that they understand the Democrats are in tune with millions of Americans across the country. In fact, we represent the people of this country. And this communications center that we have will certainly be an indication of how we feel.
RUSSERT: So you're not going to war with Republicans the first week on your job?
REID: No. I hope we don't have to go to war. As I said, Tim, I'd rather dance than fight.
But people have to understand that the president controls the White House, of course, the House of Representatives, the Senate. If he wants to get something done, he has to come to us. We're constitutionally empowered by the Constitution to have certain powers that are inherent in those bodies.
And we want to work with the president. But they can't jam things down our throats. The American people wouldn't want us to do that.
RUSSERT: You're a former boxer. If you're punched, you'll punch back?
REID: Sure will.
RUSSERT: When the president talked about Yucca Mountain and moving the nation's nuclear waste there, you were very, very, very strong in your words. You said, "President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada, and he betrayed the country."
Is that rhetoric appropriate?
REID: I don't know if that rhetoric was appropriate. That's how I feel, and that's how I felt.
I think that -- take that issue, Tim, to take the most poisonous substance known to man, plutonium, and haul 70,000 tons of it across the highways and railways of this country, past schools and churches and people's businesses, is wrong. It's something that is being forced upon this country by the utilities, and it's wrong. And we have to stop it.
And people may not like what I said, but I said it, and I don't back off one bit.
RUSSERT: The intelligence bill reforms, it's been recommended by the September 11th Commission. Now before the Senate and the House. Being held up by two Republican congressmen in the House. And now Senator John Warner, Republican from Virginia, says he has reservations.
Will the intelligence reform bill pass this week in Congress?
REID: The Congress of the United States should not leave this town until we pass this.
Governor Kean, Representative Hamilton were appointed by the president of the United States to give us some ideas as to what should be done following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. They told us what should be done. And we in the Senate and the House passed bills that were in keeping with what they wanted.
Now it's being held up because the speaker says he wants a majority of the majority to approve everything before they will pass it.
This legislation has enough votes in the House and the Senate to pass overwhelmingly. The president should intercede, as he, I believe, has an obligation to this country.
We have people that want to be safe in America today. The secretary of health and human services, Tommy Thompson, when he announced his resignation, said that America's food and water supply is not safe.
How can we leave town and not have this most important legislation passed? It may not be perfect, but no legislation's perfect. It's something that we need to do, and the people of America are depending on us to do it.
RUSSERT: Stay through Christmas if necessary?
REID: Stay through the day before New Year's. We must pass this legislation.
The people in Nevada want to be safe. The people in this country want to be safe.
RUSSERT: What must the president do?
REID: The president, who controls both houses of Congress, should use his power. And he has said that he has power. He has a mandate. Let's let him pull a few bucks out of that pocket of mandate and give it to the House and Senate and say, "Here is part of my mandate. I want this legislation to pass."
RUSSERT: Republicans are saying they're concerned about the intelligence on the ground with our troops, and they're concerned about drivers' licenses, that, without uniform standards, hijackers could easily obtain them from localities that did not maintain rigid standards.
REID: Tim, we dealt with immigration in this bill. This is not an immigration bill. Immigration is covered, as recommended by the commission, and we've done that.
This is a hold-up. These are people who have committees, Sensenbrenner and Hunter, and they want to maintain power -- power.
