Harry Reid dismisses funding children's cancer research separately from the rest of government
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By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor 2 October 2013
dailymail.co.uk 
The U.S. Senate's leading Democrat found himself in embarrassingly hot water Wednesday, after dismissing the idea of funding children's cancer research through the government shutdown.
'If you can help one child, why won't you do it?' asked CNN reporter Dana Bash.
'Why, why, why would we want to do that?' countered Reid.
'I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force Base that are sitting home' because of government employee furloughs, he told Bash and a roomful of other journalists. 'They have – they have a few problems of their own.'
'This is – to have someone of your intelligence suggest such a thing maybe means you're as irresponsible and reckless.'
Reid produced cringes and disbelief among reporters Wednesday by refusing to take CNN reporter Dana Bash's bait about the value of sparing children's cancer funding from the shutdown axe
Bash had the question of the day, asking the Senate Majority Leader whether he would agree to fund the National Institutes of Health 'if you can help one child who has cancer'
Harry Reid just came out against helping kids with cancer and insulted Dana Bash in the process. Meltdown of the day.
The two houses of Congress, run by opposite parties, were unable to agree on the terms of a continuing resolution to fund the government in its new fiscal year.
'You all talked about children with cancer unable to go to clinical trials,' she began. 'The House is presumably going to pass a bill that funds the NIH. Will you, at least, pass that? And if not, aren't you playing the same political games that Republicans are?'
Reid has sought to clarify his remarks, saying that Republicans are working to twist them.
He told the liberal radio host Bill Press: 'The whole answer is this: Why would we want to have the House of Representatives, John Boehner, cherry pick what stays open and what should be closed?
'Listen, I gave a speech on the floor talking about the babies – 30 babies, little kids who are not going to have clinical trials. Of course I care about that. I have 16 of my own grandchildren and five of my own children.'
He also tweeted: 'Republicans are in such desperate straits that they have literally resorted to accusing me of not caring about kids with cancer. Shameful.'
House Republicans have pressed forward with a collection of six legislative proposals to independently fund specific portions of the federal government through the length of the shutdown.
The first one, which provided military servicemen and women with paycheck guarantees, passed easily on Monday. After Reid declined to block it in the Senate, President Obama signed it two hours before the shutdown deadline.
But the other five proposals, including one that would continue funding the National Institutes of Health, are still in doubt.
That bill, and another freeing up money to pay members of the National Guard and military reserve units, were added on Wednesday to three that failed to pass a day earlier. Those isolate and fund the national parks, museums and monuments; the Department of Veterans Affairs; and the city government of Washington, D.C.
@mattklewis maybe if she'd stipulated the kid with cancer lived near Nellis
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 2, 2013 Here's full Reid transcript. What complete buffoonery to try to make anything of this. t.co
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 2, 2013
(L-R) Senate Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York, Harry Reid of Nevada, Patty Murray of Washington and Dick Durbin of Illinois took questions about the partisan stalemate in Congress. House Republicans want a federal budget that scales back the Obamacare health insurance law, while Reid wants them to approve a 'clean' measure with no strings attached
The CNN reporter produced one of the most memorable moments in the shutdown saga, forcing Reid to scramble and clarify his remarks
Reid: Why help just one kid with cancer?
Republicans took another stab at the legislation on Wednesday, going through the regular committee process instead of operating under a 'suspension of the rules' as they did Tuesday. That maneuver cost them since it required a two-thirds majority in order to pass, and too few Democrats defected to their side.
Democrats are coming under increasing pressure to relent on at least some of the Republicans' individual funding proposals, since they agreed to separately fund military salaries two days ago.
Reid is the talk of Washington but it's his tone-deaf gaffe, not his policy proposals, driving the conversations
They insist, however, that restoring government funding must be an all-or-nothing game.
'What right do they have to pick and choose which part of government is going to be funded?' Reid said during Wednesday's press conference. 'It's obvious what's going on here. You talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow.'
Each week the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland welcomes about 200 new patients, CNN reports, including 30 children. They are now learning that their cancer trials will be on hold while the government is shut down.
NIH spokesman John Burklow told the network that 'six new studies would have started this week that we are deferring.'
Reid backpedaled all afternoon, clarifying his remarks in a series of interviews and on Twitter.
'The whole answer is this – why would we want to have the House of Representatives, John Boehner, cherry pick what stays open and what should be closed?' he told liberal commentator Bill Press on his radio show.
'Listen, I gave a speech on the floor talking about the babies – 30 babies, little kids who are not going to have clinical trials. Of course I care about that. I have 16 of my own grandchildren and five of my own children.'
Republicans are in such desperate straits that they have literally resorted to accusing me of not caring about kids with cancer. Shameful.
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) October 2, 2013 Online, his clean-up approach was more politics than substance.
'Republicans are in such desperate straits that they have literally resorted to accusing me of not caring about kids with cancer,' Reid tweeted. 'Shameful.'
A few reporters came to his aid, including The Washington Post's Greg Sargent.
'What complete buffoonery to try to make anything of this,' he tweeted. |
