Reid, D-Nev., asked where the Oklahoma Republican was when Congress was spending a trillion dollars on the Iraq war without paying for it.

Then, referring to a severely wounded veteran of the Iraq war sitting in a wheelchair a few feet away, Reid asked whether Eric Edmundson would be better off in a convalescence center rather than at home with family.

“The answer is no,’’ he said.

Edmundson and his father, who quit his job to help care for the wounded veteran, attended a press conference with Reid, other top Senate Democrats and representatives from veterans groups to push for a vote on a bill designed to help the Edmundsons and other disabled veterans and their caregivers.

Edmundson’s father, Ed, choked up several times as he described the impact that his son’s injuries, sustained when he was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq, and subsequent treatment have had on his family.

Ed Edmundson said he quit his job and used his savings and retirement to reduce debt so he and his wife could help care for their son.

That means they go without health care, he said, adding that he is recovering from pneumonia and that his wife recently suffered a catastrophic injury from a fall.

Democrats said the Edmundsons are the type of family that the new legislation is intended to help.

Key provisions would provide a stipend and other benefits to caregivers as well as ensure equal access to female veterans and expand service to veterans in rural areas.

Coburn has blocked the bill from coming to the floor for a vote.

He has said he would drop his hold on the bill if Democrats would agree to offset its cost, which he said has been put at $3.7 billion over five years, by cutting other programs.

Coburn has said he has provided Democrats with a list of programs that could be cut.

Democrats have accused him of putting his budget concerns over the needs of wounded veterans and their families.

When asked whether he would address Coburn’s concerns, Reid said he can’t comprehend Coburn’s objections.

“I think he should become more logical,’’ he said.

Coburn did not respond to a request for a comment.

Democrats back in Oklahoma also called on Coburn to lift his hold.

At a news conference in Oklahoma City, state Democratic Party Chairman Todd Goodman called Coburn’s actions “a show of political gamesmanship.”

Miguel Medrano, Oklahoma Democratic Party 5th District vice chairman and a member of the group’s Veterans Committee, said delaying the measure is not an option.

“Devoted families caring for seriously injured service men and women are losing their jobs, their health insurance, their savings, caring for their injured family members,” said Medrano, an Iraq War veteran.

State Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones said in statement responding to the Democrats that Coburn has the courage to stand up for veterans, their children and grandchildren “by demanding that Congress not write another multibillion-dollar hot check that puts future generations in even deeper debt.”