Two words to everyone who vote this down.
FUCK YOU!
Agreed and seconded.
Well, if you read the first link I gave, you'll see that initially, debate was intentionally stymied in the House by the leadership. Which is--to me--mind-boggling. If the bill is such a "good thing," why not force naysayers to make fools of themselves on the record?
Apparently, your mind is easily boggled by total irrelevances that have nothing to do with the middle finger the Senate Republicans just flipped to first responders.
What possible difference does
any of that irrelevant bullshit make when what Don Allen created this thread to discuss how the
U.S. Senate voting along party lines just told the first responders to the worst act of terrorism to
fucking drop dead?
Follow that link I just posted and you can find all you need to know about the 41 heartless bastards who turned their back on the heroes who risked life and limb and sacrificed their health to do a grim and dirty job.
And why did the Senate Republicans turn their collective backs on the 9/11 responders? For
money.
Newser) – GOP senators stopped a $7.4 billion bill to help rescuers who suffered injuries in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the New York Times reports. The Senate voted mostly on party lines to extend debate on the 9/11 health bill, effectively sending it to be considered by the next Senate, where passage will be even more difficult. In one last-ditch effort this year, backers will try to insert provisions into the tax-cut deal brokered between the president and congressional Republicans.
Their best hope is that Charles Schumer will convince Harry Reid to play along. The tax-cut extension, a sponsor of the bill explained, "is the one measure the Senate Republicans won’t leave this town without passing." The bill sets aside $3.2 billion over the next 8 years for treating ailments inflicted on the day of the attacks. New York City would cover 10% of those costs. It also would set up a $4.2 billion compensation fund. Republicans want more specifics on where the money will come from.
http://www.newser.com/story/107247/senate-republicans-block-911-health-bill.html
The same Republicans who have dug their heels in on obtaining $700 billion in unpaid for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires suddenly become born-again deficit hawks when it comes to taking care of first responders.
Maybe they're just hoping the longer they delay and block this bill a few more sick cops, firemen and EMTs will die.
Isn't it funny how the same Republicans who lost their goddamn minds over the idea a Muslim civic center could be built several blocks away from Ground Zero don't give a damn about the men and worked that supposed sacred ground? Where are all those loudmouths who were organizing all those protests
now?
Merry fucking Christmas from Mitch McConnell and the gang.
It IS an outrage wagon, Don. Because there IS backstory, and that's being ignored, in favor of outrage. There's an assumption that something needs doing, that needs an act of Congress, that needs a big spending bill. But is there? And if there is, what--exactly--is it? What--exactly--is the scope? Why--exactly--can't the needs be met, outside of action by DC?
You are absolutely right, robeiae. There
is a backstory and it's being ignored because a gang of selfish obstructionists enjoy wrapping themselves in the flag one moment and elbowing those who contracted respiratory and skin diseases while working the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center.
The first thing we need to dispense with is the generalities and get specific. The bill is H.R. 847, (The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010) and its purpose
A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to extend and improve protections and services to individuals directly impacted by the terrorist attack in New York City on September 11, 2001, and for other purposes.
The shields in the photograph represent the 29 NYPD personnel who have died from ailments related to working at the 9/11 site.
And who was Det. James Zadroga?
Det. James Zadroga passed away on January 5, 2006 as a result of various respiratory and digestive diseases and disorders developed from his exposure to the remains of the World Trade Center. Zadroga was the first member of the NYPD whose post 9/11 death was directly linked by a medical examiner to the rescue, recovery, and clean-up efforts of the terrorist attacks.
Like thousands of other members of the service, Zadroga was reassigned to 9/11 rescue, recovery and clean up efforts and logged approximately 500 hours of duty in the World Trade Center rubble. He began having breathing difficulties when he returned to his new command, the 25 Squad, in late December of 2001. He transferred to Manhattan South Homicide in June of 2002, but his medical condition worsened. He retired on a disability November 1, 2004.
James’ ailments had already taken an irreversible toll on his wife Ronda, who died the same year from medical issues exacerbated by the family’s stress.
As his illnesses progressed, Zadroga was required to use a wheelchair and remain on oxygen around the clock. He moved in with his parents in New Jersey so they could assist with his four year old daughter, Tyler Ann, who survives him. At the time of his death, James Zadroga was 34 years old.
link
To answer your question as to why this has to be handled by the politicians in Washington D.C. instead of Albany, NY, the state already has implemented their own bill to assist the first responders and rescue workers, but the scope of the problem far outstrips their ability to meet the need. This is where the federal government has to pick up the slack and they should because September 11 wasn't an attack on New York. It was an attack on all of America.
A fact that seems to have been lost on both the Senate Republicans and you.
robeiae said:
Again, I question the fundamental "necessity" of the bill, to begin with. I question the price tag. And sure, both sides are playing games, but your thread title is what it is and provokes the responses it provokes, no?
There's only one side "playing games" here and its the Republicans holding the sick, desperate and dying hostage to play their bullshit games. The title of Don Allen thread provokes an entirely human response:
outrage.
Outrage at the Republicans and their never-ending search for yet another reason to be cold, selfish bastards.
Outrage, mixed with sheer disbelief by those who worked at Ground Zero and were stabbed in the back by the Republicans.
"I was a registered Republican. I have no idea what I am now," said Ray Simons, 60, a retired FDNY ambulance worker who said he's ill from two weeks at The Pile. "For senators to turn this down, it's like, oh, my God, it's the ultimate betrayal."
"These guys, these men and women, went there looking for my wife," said Charles Wolf, 56, whose late wife, Katherine, worked on the 97th floor of the north tower.
"They went there looking for anybody else's husband, wife, brother, sister, daughter, mother, father, and now we want to walk away from them," said Wolf, another Republican disgusted at his party leaders.
"I've got to tell you something, it is not the Republican people of this country, it is the Republican senators, it is the Republican politicians, that are against this," he added.
Sorry fellas. You voted Republican, but you forgot you weren't part of the top two percent. If you ain't rich, you don't count to the Senate GOP.
Live and learn, live and get burned. Live until you die for your selfless acts of sacrifice and heroism and suffer well.
