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This is a disgraceful bit of political grandstanding from the Republican party. Remember, the GOP has blocked Americans' access to affordable health care of the sort available in every other industrialized country. The GOP just last week passed a bill that would keep Americans hit by astronomical medical costs from declaring bankruptcy. The GOP has tried to limit the rights of Americans to sue in cases of malpractice (such as occurred in this case). In Texas, Bush signed a bill into law that allows hospitals to pull the plug on patients who cannot pay. Just last week, a baby in Houston was terminated for exactly that reason. The Republicans in the Senate passed a memo around cynically boasting about a supposed political advantage and calling this a "great issue". To ram this through the House, they had to ignore the rule about a quorum. And this is a Bill of Attainment, of the sort expressly forbidden in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution. And let's compare the Republican leadership's obscene rush to pass this with the foot-dragging and inaction these same corrupt Congresspeople exhibited over investigating the 9/11 attacks, over investigating the torture of prisoners, or over the lies that got us into the quagmire in Iraq
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