The 9/11 health bill may be one of those poor one-legged ducklings:
So many different ways to approach this topic but the one that sticks to my throat right now is the vast chasm between all that patriotic unity talk in 2001 and then this.
Republican senators blocked Democratic legislation on Thursday that sought to provide medical care to rescue workers and residents of New York City who became ill as a result of breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke from ground zero.
The 9/11 health bill, a version of which was approved by the House of Representatives in September, is among a handful of initiatives that Senate Democrats had been hoping to approve this year before the close of the 111th Congress.
The Senate action created huge uncertainty over the future of the bill. Its supporters were scrambling on Thursday to have the legislation inserted into a large tax-cut bill that Republicans and Democrats are attempting to pass before Congress ends it current session later this month.
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If the bill is not adopted by the current Congress, its supporters will have start all over again next year. With Republicans set to take over the House next year, passing the bill in that chamber will be extremely difficult, according to the bill's supporters. That is a large part of the reason the bill's backers are pleading with Senate leaders to get the bill passed before this Congress finishes its business