It is clear that Senate democrats and the president are happy to lay as much blame and misery at the feet of their opponents rather than work for the good of the American people. Such attitudes really know no boundaries.
From closing outdoor monuments to WWII vets to keeping American school kids out of the White House, democrats believe they can control the optics of these self made crisis to keep the conservatives under control.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is blaming Republicans for the National Institutes of Health turning away cancer patients. But when asked why the Senate wouldn’t try to help “one child who has cancer” by approving a mini-spending bill, he shot back: “Why would we want to do that?”
The tense exchange occurred Wednesday, as Senate Democrats tried to lambaste Republicans ahead of a vote where the House will consider measures to fund the NIH and other agencies — a bid to ease the pain amid the budget stand-off.
Reid has opposed the measures, saying that if Republicans want to end the government suspension they’ll have to simply approve a “clean” budget bill — devoid of any provision that would hurt ObamaCare.
But Reid was challenged at a Democratic press conference by CNN’s Dana Bash about why the Senate wouldn’t consider the NIH bill.
“If you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?” she asked.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quietly asked, “Why pit one against the other?”
And Reid immediately chimed in: “Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own.”
Reid’s response was widely noticed by Republicans. “How out-of-touch and heartless can Senate Democrats be?” an email from the National Republican Senatorial Committee asked.
But Reid fired back, suggesting he’s being taken out of context.
“Republicans are in such desperate straits that they have literally resorted to accusing me of not caring about kids with cancer. Shameful,” his office tweeted.
Reid argues that the Republicans are trying to “pick and choose” what parts of government to keep open, and that they should be dropping their resistance to ObamaCare and voting to keep all of government open.
“You talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow. What this is all about is ObamaCare. They are obsessed. I don’t know what other word I can use,” Reid said.
Republicans say it’s Democrats’ refusal to negotiate the health law that has landed the country in this position.
“The entire government is shut down right now because Washington Democrats refuse to even talk about fairness for all Americans under ObamaCare,” Mike Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said in a statement. “Today, the House will continue to pass bills that reflect the American people’s priorities. The Senate passed the troop funding bill this weekend — will they now say ‘no’ to funding for veterans, our National Parks and the National Institutes of Health?”
If the House of Representatives voted on a “clean” budget bill — one that opened up the closed federal offices but did not attempt to defund the Obama health care program — that bill would pass, and the shutdown would be over. Nearly all Democrats would vote for it, as would enough Republicans to end the shutdown and its related damage. (And of course it has already passed the Senate, repeatedly, and would be signed by the president.)
So far House Speaker John Boehner has refused to let this vote occur. His Tea Party contingent knows how the vote would go and therefore does not want it to happen; and such is Boehner’s fear of them, and fear for his job as Speaker, that he will not let it take place.
This is why the normal D.C. arguments about the need for compromise do not apply. The Democratic administration, and a sufficient number of Republicans, already agree and are ready enough to compromise to solve this problem. If the normal machinery of democracy were allowed to work, the manufactured crisis would be over. The only reason the senseless damage is being done is that hostage-takers have terrorized members of their own party.