Flaps
When Harry Reid Barked at
The Blind Woman's Guide Dog
[reprinted from The Inside Dope]
by Del Tartikoff
When Nevada's U.S. Senator Harry
Reid objected to letting a guide dog accompany a blind
staffer onto the Senate floor two weeks ago -- an act the
L.A. Times said stunned "many of even the hardest
hearts in Washington" -- he was serving, as he has
for years, as a willing water-carrier for Sen. Robert C.
Byrd, Democrat, of West Virginia. The original request had come from Sen. Ron
Wyden, (D-Ore.), who first addressed, in accord with
Senate protocol, the body's presiding officer. "Mr. President," Wyden had said,
"I ask unanimous consent that Ms. Moira Shea, a
congressional fellow in my office who is visually
impaired, be granted floor access during the course of
debate on S. 104, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and that
Ms. Shea's guide dog also be granted floor access during
the course of debate on S. 104." Such requests are normally routine -- commonly
made whenever a Senator wants the assistance of an aide
on the Senate floor. But Reid, after reserving his right
to object, did object. He had no personal objections, Reid explained;
he was just doing it for "another Member" --
who later turned out to be long-time Reid-mentor Robert
Byrd. "Mr. President," said Reid,
according to the Congressional Record, "I shall not
personally object because I have no personal objection to
the request of my friend from Oregon, but on behalf
of another Member who just called the cloakroom, I do
voice an objection."
Because Senate rules require "unanimous
consent," Ms. Shea and Beau, her Golden Labrador
guide dog, were barred from the Senate floor.
Wyden thereupon asked permission to introduce
a resolution asking that the U.S. Senate comply with the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Two years ago, lawmakers
voted for the first time to make Congress obey the same
federal health, safety and other workplace laws as they
require of the rest of America.
Within 18 hours, the U.S. Senate had arranged
a delicate retreat from the Reid-Byrd position.
Unanimously, senators agreed to lift any prohibition
against guide dogs and directed the sergeant at arms to
allow staff members with disabilities to bring into the
chamber whatever aids necessary.
Early this decade the Byrd-Reid tag team also
collaborated on the infamous "midnight salary
raise," in which U.S. Senators raised their own
salaries tens of thousands of dollars.
At the time, with the Senate under a Democrat
majority, Byrd was Appropriations Chairman and sidekick
Reid headed the appropriations subcommittee on Government
operations -- where salary