change. we sometimes get in trouble when we claim that equity discussions as solely a diversity question. it is about impact, economic development, all of the things that we all care about as human beings. ron: what a terrific conversation. we are going to have to leave it there for now. thank you for joining >> comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to

democracy. united states capital is at half-staff this morning. that's because we learned late yesterday that armor senate majority leader harry reid has died. he died yesterday at his home in henderson, nevada. a clip of one of his many appearances on capitol hill and he is one of the leaders in terms of appearances in the c-span archives. this is from 2013, senator harry reid, taking reporter questions at the u.s. capitol. [video clip] >> it's been held up for an average of nine months. doesn't need to be changed? yes. you always get through to me, look at all these people. you are a bully. [laughter] >> you mentioned judges.

senator lahey will send dcc nominees. host: that scene from harry reid's exchange on the capital back in 2013. the reporter he was talking to, that so-called bully was a senior writer for congress on the white house neal winooski and he's joining us this morning by phone to talk about the legacy of harry reid stop do you remember that moment on capitol hill? guest: i certainly do. thank you for having me this morning. it was a little bit unexpected. in those days when senator reid would have the tuesday afternoon stakeout at the ohio corridor, i was pretty much one of the regulars who was there every week working for roll call.

it sort of became a recurring element with senator reid picking on a few select regulars in the crowd. the other one that comes to mind as you may remember was steve dennis who also used to work at roll call and works at bloomberg now. he had a moment where he was accused of asking a clown question in the parlance of harry reid for bryce harper back when he was playing for the nationals. this was sort of a recurring part of the sort of shtick, i would call it. host: we get a sense of it from some of those clips but what was

harry reid like as a person on capitol hill? what was he like in those conversations when the cameras were there? guest: senator reid was a fascinating person to cover. when the cameras were not on, he and his wife were high school sweethearts and had been married for more than six decades at the time of his passing. he couldn't be the most abrasive person you ever dealt with but i know from many experiences, not just of my own but colleagues and staffers and all sorts of people i've talked to, when you had suffered a loss or when you had a child on the way, the

moments of life that are not about the rough-and-tumble of politics, he was one of the lawmakers and maybe to view who actually paid attention to what was going on around him in the capital will the. host: on twitter after the news came out yesterday about harry reid death, calling him perhaps the most important elected official in nevada history, plenty of writing in the independent today about his legacy in nevada, growing up in searchlight and rising to state offices and then federal offices stuff what are your thoughts on his legacy on capitol hill? guest: on capitol hill, the sort of greatest legacy is whether he

wanted it to be or not, the biggest will be the fact that the filibuster rule changed for nominations on his watch. we had that year where he grew incredibly frustrated with what the republicans were doing during the obama years with the circuit judge nominees and the result was that he and the democratic caucus use the so-called nuclear option and brought down the threshold for approving judges to a simple majority. obviously, it has continued since then and senator mcconnell and the republicans under president trump expanded that to the supreme court. that's one legacy piece. the other thing that is both a home state issue and a national

issue -- i would be very interested to see what happens now with the long stalled or canceled or dead and never coming back nuclear waste response -- repository at yucca mountain. he single-handedly killed and used every lever he could come up with as party leader and earlier as appropriate or to make sure that it never happened. on capitol hill, the legacy from that is the power that the leader has, if you are a state like nevada that is not terribly populous and you get someone of your own to be the leader of

either the democratic or republican party in the senate, you can do a lot more and really push above your weight. host: you mentioned harry reid in his home state and on capitol hill. i will let you think of your favorite story from capitol hill and i share this one story from back in his home state before he came to congress. the paragraph in the wall street journal notes he was appointed the top gambling regulator in the late 1970's, job which he had held in 1981, face to face with organized crime and built a reputation for toughness, teaming up with the fbi to set up a sting operation everyman tried to drive him. he veered off script and tried to choke the would be briber. that's one story about him from back in the day. net your favorite story about

your time with him? caller: guest: i will not quote it to let -- directly on air but there was the 2013 incident where there was a meeting between the party leaders in the house and the senate and there was a back-and-forth between harry reid and then speaker were minority leader at the time john boehner. it ultimately led to expletives being exchanged and what's fascinating is this is a famous exchange over the years but they went ahead and became sort of partners after they retired boehner and read and were both involved in a public policy project associated with mgm casinos so it fell into the category of an encounter was

just one for the history books. i was just pulling up the quotation from speaker boehner's recent memoir so i can read the quotation. it's about how macconnell responded -- mr. decorum which he called o'connell was a stunned and horrified witness to this angry encounter. i thought he was going to keel over from cardiac arrest then and there. so boehner had called read expletives in this exchange as well and john boehner said their relationship got a lot better after that. this is somehow how you needs to deal with harry reid. he could punch and take punches.

host: before you go, do we know anything yet about funeral services or remembrances in washington? i know it just happened late yesterday. guest: we have not seen announcements yet from the family, they sent a statement from his wife but further announcements for services would be for coming so we will be looking out for those over the next holiday and early into the new year. host: senior writer for congress and the white house, we appr

>> along with these other television providers. having you a front row seat to democracy. this week, watch washington journal's special author series featuring a new writer each morning. coming up thursday morning, the former trump fda commissioner discusses uncontrolled spread. why covid-19 crushed us and how we can defeat the next pandemic. watch washington general live on thursday morning, starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern. or on ever new mobile video app, c-span now.