Washington – Capitol Hill Buzz: Pelosi Teases Reid With Dark Glasses

Washington – Comedy on Capitol Hill — the intentional kind, anyway — is pretty rare.

But House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi got chuckles Thursday when she started a news conference by donning dark glasses, a teasingly sympathetic gesture to the man standing next to her, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

“I brought my glasses to be like Harry, but he switched on me,” Pelosi said, removing her shades.

In recent days, Reid indeed has worn dark glasses in the Capitol, partly hiding the serious injury to his right eye suffered while exercising at his Nevada home on New Year’s Day.

Reid said an elastic exercise band snapped, causing him to fall and break bones in his face. He had two surgeries in January, including one to replace his cornea. He belatedly joined the new Congress, wearing a large bandage over his right eye and cheek.

The bandage eventually gave way to dark glasses. On Thursday, Reid faced cameras in normal reading glasses, but with an opaque right lens to hide the injured eye.

The extent to which Reid might recover sight in the eye won’t be known for weeks, aides say.

Pelosi and Reid used the press conference to berate Republicans for refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless Congress reverses President Barack Obama’s changes to deportation policies.