In a joint interview with Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell that CBS News described as "exasperating," 60 Minutes took on the gridlock in the U.S. Senate.The piece noted that the Senate was once the chamber of Congress where deals were made, but that in recent years the ability to find common ground has been lost.Reid said that compromise is not something the Senate does anyone, highlighting McConnell’s comment after the 2010 mid-terms, where he said that the chief GOP goal was to limit President Obama to one-term.McConnell added that the Senate has met the president halfway on a number of bills , but acknowledged the difficulty in forging bipartisan measures."Compromise is sometimes very difficult," he said. "My 47 members of the Senate have very different views from Harry and his colleagues about how much government we ought to have, how much taxation we ought to have, how much regulation we ought to have."Besides McConnell and Reid not making eye contact and dodging most of CBS News' Steve Kroft's questions, the 60 Minutes piece was roundly criticized by liberal and conservative viewers alike.Amongst conservatives, the chief issue appears to be that the piece avoided that Democratic-controlled chamber has failed to pass a budget in three and a half years. Liberals meanwhile highlighted that 60 Minutes ignored how Republicans have used a record-setting number of GOP filibusters—over 360 times—since 2007.Watch the interview here.
