The House Republicans tried, and failed, to squelch a speech by
Congressman Alan Grayson on health care last night.
Congressman Grayson had reserved an hour on the Floor of the House for a “special order” on health care. When the hour began, Congressman Grayson noted that a Harvard study had concluded that 44,789 Americans die each year because they have no health insurance. He also noted that the Urban Institute had released figures on the number of uninsured in each Congressional district. Observing that every single House Republican had pledged to block health coverage for the insured, he then did the math:
“Alabama District 1, Congressman Jo Bonner, 114 dead.”
“Alabama District 3, Congressman Mike Rogers, 88 dead.”
Grayson continued for 23 minutes, from Alabama to Ohio. Then the
Republicans demanded that Grayson “yield.” Grayson said no: “my time is limited, and I intend to use it.” Flustered, the Republicans then asked that Grayson’s “words be taken down.” They threatened to call a roll-call vote, at 8 p.m., on whether Grayson should be sanctioned. This halted the proceedings.
The House staff informed the Republicans that Rep. Grayson had
violated no rule of the House. The Republicans then insisted on reviewing a recording of Grayson’s speech, reviewing it with a fine-tooth comb to see if there was anything objectionable. Then they asked to “ring the bells” before the proceedings resumed, wasting another 15 minutes. Finally, after an hour of Republican stalling, Grayson finished the list:
“Wyoming, Congressman Cynthia Lummis, 73 dead.”
For the remainder of his hour, Grayson then read real-life stories from the website namesofthedead.com. These are submitted by people who lost loved ones because they had no health insurance.
Asked to comment, Rep. Grayson said: “They used to call President Harry Truman ‘Give ‘em Hell Harry’. But President Truman said, ‘I don’t give them hell; I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.’ I’m telling the Republicans this: Lives are at stake. If you can’t stand the heat on health care, then get out of the kitchen.”
