Republican lawmakers are so concerned about election-year appearances that they’re even blocking popular bills with broad bi-partisan support named after national celebrities.
Salon’s Geraldine Sealey noted an LA Weekly report, which suggests GOP lawmakers started playing games with the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act immediately after the actor’s death.
For all the bad rap that Hollywood receives, its stars do the most good when they get behind medical causes. One star who was doing just that was the late Christopher Reeve. But the Republicans’ nasty prosecution of the presidential campaign has now taken to stealing Reeve’s legacy before the quadriplegic’s body is even cold. They are turning his dream of bettering the lives of the 2 million Americans living with paralysis into a political football.
L.A. Weekly has learned that, just a day after the actor’s death, one or more Republican senators put a surprise hold on the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act. The uncontroversial legislation had been expected to sail through committee and then the Senate as easily as it had the House of Representatives where it passed 418 to zero last week. Monday’s action was beyond cruel; it was like opposing Mom and apple pie.
Congressional sources confirmed to L.A. Weekly Tuesday that the hold was placed on the legislation from the Republican side of the aisle. Democratic committee members led by Senator Edward Kennedy are trying to find out which Republican senator or senators sandbagged S. 1010. The way the Senate system works, any senator can delay a bill without accountability because anonymity is assured.
“We’re shocked,” a source inside the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation told L.A. Weekly on Tuesday. “We had been told the bill was going to pass the Senate, but then the Republicans put a hold on the legislation. We heard it was because Chris has been too outspoken on the stem-cell issue. That was the trigger. So it would have passed if Chris hadn’t died.”
Classy bunch, those congressional Republicans.
Keep in mind, this bill did not deal in the slightest with controversial issues. The act would expand NIH research on paralysis. That’s it. It wouldn’t even spend new federal money. It was one of those “feel good” bills that’s more symbolic than anything else.
Yet, some GOP lawmaker (or GOP lawmakers) worked behind-the-scenes to kill the bill. The guilty party didn’t even have the courage of their convictions — this was done as a “secret” hold.