Yesterday, Erik Paulsen took his divise, partisan style to a new low when he teamed up with Michele Bachmann to oppose health care for 9/11 rescue workers and first responders for the second time. This vote by Rep. Paulsen was downright unpatriotic.
The bill was officially named the "Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act" after James Zadroga, a police officer who spent 450 hours in the collapsed buildings and died of a respiratory disease in 2006. He is only one of the 90,000 police officers, firefighters, EMT's, and volunteers who performed so bravely after that horrific, earth-shattering event.
Jim Meffert released a statement following the vote, which included the following excerpt:
Over 90,000 first responders and rescue workers served at Ground Zero, and many of them are suffering breathing problems and other ailments as a result of their service. More could even lose their lives like Officer Zadroga did. We owe it to these brave men and women to see to it that their medical needs are addressed, and today the House succeeded in passing a bill that does so.
Paulsen had the chance to reconsider his first vote against this bill and do the right thing today on behalf of the heroes who helped at Ground Zero. Instead, he dug in his heels over more of the same excuses and distractions the right wing always tries to use. Paulsen should be ashamed of himself.
This bill is going to cost $25 per American over a four year period. But, apparently for Rep. Paulsen, $25 is too high of a cost to honor the bravery and the courage of the first responders who ran into the chaos to save people's lives during one of the greatest disasters in American history.
Here's what Erik Paulsen said the last time he voted against this proposal:
What will he say this time? That Americans are unwilling to pay $25 to honor these people? That we shouldn't be expected to help the first people that ran to the scene to help during the single deadliest attack on American soil in our history? That this is anything more than Republican obstructionism and putting politics above people's lives once again?
What really costs too much is allowing American heroes who went above and beyond their duties to die because of partisan politics. Real patriotism is about honoring the sacrifices of those who came to the aid of our nation at its greatest time of need.
Paulsen has been in the pocket of special interests, especially those who care about his work on the Financial Services committee, since he took office. Last week, we had to call him out for lying on a taxpayer-funded campaign mailing that he sent to his constituents. This week, we launched an effort to raise $25,000 online in four days. Help us reach our goalbefore the fundraising deadline at Midnight tonight so that we can fight back against Paulsen's lies and let people know what he really stands for.