Child R—- Defendant Gets $1 M in Gov. Spending Bill

Rep. Susan Wild (D., Pa.) is poised to secure $1 million in taxpayer funding for a children’s mental health asylum she defended in a molestation case.

The $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill has $1 million earmarked for renovations for KidsPeace, a Pennsylvania nonprofit Wild represented in a 2005 lawsuit filed by a former patient who was anally raped by a counselor. Wild, who requested funding for KidsPeace earlier this year, argued in the lawsuit that KidsPeace should not be on the hook for a settlement payout to the patient because the rape was a “medical incident” that should be covered by its insurance plan, the Washington Free Beacon reported. She said KidsPeace did not have a “crystal ball” to prevent the counselor’s “malfeasance,” though the counselor was charged years earlier in the suffocation death of a 12-year-old patient.

The earmark for KidsPeace is listed in the 4,155-page omnibus bill that senators are expected to approve this week. The bill includes $772.5 billion in non-defense discretionary spending on earmarks like the KidsPeace renovation. The bill includes tens of millions more on spending on other pet projects, including $477,000 in spending at Equity Labs for “antiracism virtual labs” and $3.6 million on the “Michelle Obama Trail” in Georgia.

Wild’s ties to KidsPeace came under scrutiny during her campaign, which she won by roughly 6,000 votes over Republican Lisa Scheller. A Republican group, citing the Free Beacon‘s reporting, detailed Wild’s advocacy for KidsPeace in a TV ad and asserted that “Wild is pushing for a million dollars in taxpayer money for the hospital, the same hospital that paid her.”

Best known for Zooming into a campaign event while driving, Wilds lashed out at the GOP group over the ad, telling them to “shut up.”