Rick Nolan’s big talk highlights his hypocrisy on research funding
Somebody may want to tell Rick Nolan to dial down his chest thumping, especially when his voting record exposes his blatant hypocrisy. This weekend, Nolan bragged about his support for research funding, declaring, “I want you to know when it comes to funding for research, when it comes to funding for education, when it comes to funding for treatment, when it comes to funding for a cure, when it comes to funding for advocacy, you’ll never find this fellow here in wanting to step up and cast a positive vote for that.”
The problem? Nolan has opposed important research funding, including the bipartisan Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act which provided research funding aimed at curing childhood diseases such as autism and childhood cancer. The bill was fully paid for, pulling funds from the public financing of quadrennial political conventions. Simply put, this means Nolan voted to prioritize taxpayer funding for presidential nominating conventions ahead of research efforts to eliminate devastating childhood diseases, all while hypocritically trying to paint himself as a champion for the same people hurt by his vote.
How popular was the bill? It passed the House with a huge bipartisan majority, passed the Senate by Unanimous Consent, and was signed into law by President Obama. Nolan was sadly one of the few politicians in DC willing to put politics, and political conventions, ahead of research funding to cure childhood diseases.