Reid: Biden barred from Senate lunches

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will bar Vice President-elect Joe Biden from weekly internal Democratic Party Senate lunches.

Reid's decision to exclude Biden, a longtime Senate leader, from the strategy sessions is meant to restore constitutional checks and balances that have heavily favored the executive branch during the Bush presidency, the Las Vegas Sun reported Sunday.

Outgoing U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's attendance at weekly Senate Republican strategy luncheons was a symbol of the power shift from the legislative to the executive branch during the Bush administration, analysts told the newspaper.

"Cheney would come in there and try to force discipline on the Republican senators," said Rutgers University Professor Ross Baker. "He was the Bigfoot that came into those meetings. If someone got out of line, he would put a thumb in their eyes."

Reid told the Sun: "(Biden) can come by once and a while, but he's not going to sit in on our lunches. He's not a senator. He's the vice president."