Newspaper Article

WASHINGTON TALK: POLITICS AND AIDS; ENTER DANFORTH, WITH TOUGH QUESTIONS

JONATHAN FUERBRINGER, Special to the New York Times

1987

Overview

''Do not panic,'' Mr. Danforth shouted as he concluded, chastising the Senate for acting in haste. ''Do not panic,'' he repeated, as he slapped his desk again. ''They go to basic values,'' he added. ''They are questions that should be answered in a legislative arena. They go beyond the experts. They go to national commitments. They go to values and resources.'' Senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr., the Connecticut Republican who has led the fight over the last several years for money for AIDS research, said, ''I think [Jack Danforth] raises legitimate questions in the sense of coming from a lack of knowledge that would probably apply to 90 percent of the other guys on the floor,'' adding, ''From that perspective I do not think he was trying to stall.'' ''Our tendency in the Senate is to focus on today's issue, today's news,'' Mr. Danforth said. ''Every tendency here is to put off the big questions and deal with what is at hand. We'll do it like we did the drug bill last year. Pass a bill and put out our statements of how we solved the drug problem.'' Concern About Haste

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS) / Danforth, John C / DANFORTH, JOHN C (SEN) / FUERBRINGER, JONATHAN