Actually that bill, dubbed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Act is one of many items that were initially passed by Congress but because of an arcane Senate rule, one Republican has held up with the support of 41 of his colleagues on the right today. Majority Leader Harry Reid had designed a bill to get all of Coburn's blocked legislation through, but those compassionate conservatives in the Senate thought otherwise. Obviously it is better to play partisan games than to pass bills to help people.
From RawStory:
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Act, named for the actor who was made famous by his portrayal of superman and later became a champion of the disabled, along with his late wife (pictured at right), is part of a broad package created by Democrats which lumps together 36 bills.
It would have allocated $25 million for research on spinal cord injuries, rehabilitation and measures to improve the quality of life for paralyzed Americans. The effort is backed by the Paralyzed Veterans of America, which claims 19,000 members. Some 200,000 Americans suffer spinal cord-related injuries.[...]
The Democrats' package bundled numerous uncontroversial proposals in an attempt to overcome procedural hurdles Coburn has imposed. Dr. Coburn is famous for his efforts to moonlight as a physician while serving in Congress, and was blocked by the Senate when he attempted to continue delivering babies while in office. He's also known for his annual screening of films warning congressional staffers of venereal disease.
So everyone, you can thank elected officials such as Tom Coburn and a majority of the Republican caucus for blocking no-brainer legislation like what you see above. Their leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky counters by saying that Senate Democrats merely want avoid legislation that deals with gas prices. What McConnell fails to note however, is that this bill would only take a small amount of time to get those programs passed and that "dealing with high gas prices" is merely a trick to give more leases to energy companies. Now once this bill gets through, then we can get down to energy legislation that involves alternative sources and not just giveaways to the oil industry.
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