Republicans to 9/11 Responders: Die, and Die Quickly

Discussion in 'Politics' started by hermit, Jul 30, 2010.

  1. House Republicans late Thursday were able to corral enough votes to defeat a bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to those sickened by toxins resulting from the 9/11 attacks.

    In the process, they set off a host of fiery speeches and denunciations from their Democratic colleagues and produced a veritable YouTube moment from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y), whose district includes many of the affected.

    When it became apparent that the Republicans were going to attach "poison pill" amendments to the bill that had nothing to do with 9/11 and everything to do with their political agenda, Democrats shut down the possibility of amending the bill by moving it to the suspension calendar, where a minimum 2/3rds vote is needed for it to pass.

    When the final tally was announced, there were 255 representatives for the measure, 159 against. The defeat of the bill, which would have provided free health care to those affected during the 9/11 rescue and recovery, likely means that the court system will have to settle compensation issues.

    Republicans applied the same old talking points, calling it a "massive new entitlement program". Actually, that's not quite right. They called it a "massive job-killing new entitlement program", because that's the Frank Luntz mantra of the week. (I was monitoring the Senate at the same time, and somehow the Small Business Jobs bill also became another "massive job-killing new entitlement program.") Of course, that's nonsense too, given that it had been structured to be paid for by closing a tax loophole for foreign corporations.

    Weiner spoke right before the vote when it was clear that Republican lawmakers would stake their opposition on grounds of procedural concerns. But for the grace of the C-SPAN cameras, he managed to stay physically behind his lectern.

    "The gentleman will sit!" he declared at one point, addressing, it is believed, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). "The gentleman is correct in sitting!"


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    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/anthony-weiner-911-bill-ballistic_n_664568.html
    http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/republicans-911-responders-die-and-die-quic
     
  2. Who is the majority party?
     
  3. Arnie

    Arnie

    So...the short story is the Dems are pissed they lost? :confused:
     
  4. Mnphats

    Mnphats

    LOL.....



    I would be just as upset if I had the last name of weiner.
     
  5. Mnphats

    Mnphats

    What weiner titled this thread?
     
  6. You mean like 'Boehner' :D
     
  7. Mnphats

    Mnphats

    :D
     
  8. hermit- why did the dems need the republican votes to pass this?
     
  9. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ZXar9bhTyg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ZXar9bhTyg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
     
  10. Unless there is some actual evidence that sick people are being denied treatment due to the republicans' tactics, I call this thread title a despicable lie.

    Liberals have a flexible definition of truth. Quoting some black racist's own words is contemptible to them, yet casually throwing around labels and falsely impugning people's motives is perfectly acceptable.

    If this bill was so crucial, democrats have the votes to ram it through. We've seen that repeatedly when they were railroading obama's various socialist polcies through. This was more in the nature of an empty gesture to their union paymasters, with the additional hopes of forcing a possibly unpopular vote on republicans.
     
    #10     Jul 30, 2010