Today brings yet another instance of the sad effects of the partial government shutdown. CNS is reporting about a program run by volunteers in which dogs are brought to visit hospital patients as part of their therapy. A large part of the patients who get these canine visits are children, many of them terminally ill. Since the dogs are unpaid and the program is run by volunteers, you may wonder how it could be that the NIH announced that the dog therapy program is shut down. The answer is that the veterinarian who checks the dogs is a government employee, so the entire program is closed. Very sick children who look forward to the visits from these dogs will just have to be disappointed since the federal government will not allow it anymore.
The sad thing is that the House has already passed a measure that fully funds NIH. All that is required is for the Democrats in the Senate to pass it and for Obama to sign it. Obama and the Democrats refuse, however. They won't agree to fund the government unless ALL of it is fully funded exactly the way the Democrats want. For the NIH, the Democrats won't take YES for an answer. Meanwhile the sick children suffer.
The sad thing is that the House has already passed a measure that fully funds NIH. All that is required is for the Democrats in the Senate to pass it and for Obama to sign it. Obama and the Democrats refuse, however. They won't agree to fund the government unless ALL of it is fully funded exactly the way the Democrats want. For the NIH, the Democrats won't take YES for an answer. Meanwhile the sick children suffer.
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