- Charlotte Cooper via Wikimedia Commons
Wow, Senate Republicans really know who the real enemy is: While taking the thoughts 'n' prayers approach to preventing domestic terrorism this week, they put on their big-kid pants yesterday in a party-line vote for a budget that would defund Planned Parenthood and repeal the Affordable Care Act, but opted against amendments that would have actually bolstered gun control.
Here's Politico on the rejected gun control measures:
The first gun control measure proposed by Democrats was legislation from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would deny people on a federal terrorism watch list the ability to purchase guns. The measure failed, 45-54. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) voted with Republicans to reject the measure, and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) crossed over to vote in favor of the gun restrictions.
The second vote revived legislation from April 2013, written in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., with bipartisan backing that would enact universal background checks.
ThinkProgress' Igor Volsky has helpfully listed all of the nay voters on Twitter:
Here is every senator who voted against expanding background checks following this year's 355th mass shooting: pic.twitter.com/Hd5ipbR5HN
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 4, 2015
You've seen the NY Daily News cover. I don't have to tell you why this gun control vote is so deeply out of touch.
But what's especially draconian about the vote to defund Planned Parenthood is that, yes, the organization is an abortion provider, but it also fills the gap in providing basic health care at low cost if you're uninsured (and, oh yeah, abortion is a medical procedure, so it's not actually separate from health care at all, except politically). In sum, the GOP seems to be suggesting that (a) people lose their health insurance, and (b) organizations that fill the gap in care can't help out either. This is to say nothing of the fact that America's gun violence problem is in itself a public health crisis. The message is clear: We're on our own.
Is it close enough to 5 yet for me to retire to my crying cupboard with a vat of gin? No? Okay. Here's where you can donate to Planned Parenthood.