Reid spars with CEOs, walks out of meeting

[Enrique]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/reid-spars-with-ceos-walk_n_475313.html

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W. James McNerney Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Boeing Company, was one of the more outspoken executives, arguing that helping big business was the same as helping small businesses, and that either way he supported them doing both, not one or the other. For every job created at Boeing, he said, two small business jobs are created.

His argument sparked something in Reid, who recoiled, indicating with his body language and facial expression that he didn't like what he was hearing, according to people in the room. Reid dressed down the CEO and then walked out of the meeting.

HuffPost caught up with Reid in a Senate building hallway outside a health care event and asked him about the exchange. "I think we got it straightened out. I made a couple of statements and I said, 'You're not implying we shouldn't be doing this for small business?' And they retreated very quickly. So I think we got it straightened out," he said.