On the House floor Tuesday night, Grayson said: “If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That’s right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.’’
His remarks weren’t spontaneous. Grayson, a first-term Democrat known for being provocative, reinforced his point with signs saying the same thing.
Representative Tom Price of Georgia, who heads the conservative Republican Study Committee, drafted a “resolution of disapproval’’ that mirrors the one Democrats approved against Wilson, saying Grayson’s conduct was “a breach of decorum and degraded the integrity and proceedings of the House.’’
Ken Spain, spokesman for the House Republican campaign arm, said Democrats should be “lining up to call on him to apologize.’’
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now has an opportunity to condemn the very behavior and tone of this health care debate that she claims will ‘incite violence,’ ’’ he said, referring to Democratic concerns that the bitter tone of the debate could lead to attacks. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
More overhaul of secrecy needed, advocates say
WASHINGTON - President Obama’s new standards for government openness have not trickled down to some agencies, where officials have used special statutes slipped into bills to skirt the Freedom of Information Act, advocates said yesterday.
Efforts to strengthen the 42-year-old law “have been hampered by the increasing use of legislative exemptions that are often sneaked into legislation without debate or public scrutiny,’’ Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont said.
News organizations and media groups said new legislation was needed to limit the information agencies may keep secret and for how long. “We appreciate the change in policy direction, but the change hasn’t yet reached the street,’’ said Tom Curley, president and chief executive of the Associated Press.
