Wait, did he say “easier?”…

(The Hill)– Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says his job will be “easier” in the 112th Congress, despite a slimmer Democratic majority and a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

“It’s going to be much easier than it was,” Reid told the Las Vegas Sun. He seemed to be referring, if indirectly, to the vastly lower expectations that many political observers have for the divided Congress that takes power in January, compared with the grand hopes that Democrats had entering the 111th Congress when they controlled both chambers and had a near filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The Republicans will hold 47 seats in January, six more than they held before the November elections.

With Republicans running the House, Reid said his job would be to act as a “cooling vessel for the heat of the House of Representatives.” Led by Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio), the House is expected to quickly pass a raft of legislation that reflects Republican priorities, including a repeal of the healthcare law, but that will be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.