The Hill News

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has predicted that the Tea Party will disappear once the economy recovers.

"The Tea Party was borne because of the economy," he said in a pre-taped interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." "The Tea Party disappear once the economy gets better, and the economy's getting better all the time."

Reid also used the interview to call for a continuation of the productive nature of 2010's lame duck session, while blasting Republican leaders for pursuing an extreme agenda and engaging in political stunts. In the first days of the 112th Congress, a spokesman for Reid accused House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) of "laying the groundwork for Republicans' extremist agenda."

"We set the tone working together in the lame-duck session, the most productive in the history of our country, and we did that by working together," Reid said. "And I say to my friend, [House Majority Leader] Eric Cantor, 'Let's stop ! throwing these bombs and doing things like thinking the American people are happy that you're sleeping in your office or reading the Constitution.'"

Reid's inteview was taped before Saturday's shooting of 20 people in Tucson, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).