GOP backing off scolding Dem over rhetoric

updated 2:38 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2009

WASHINGTON - House Republicans are backing off an effort to reprimand a Florida congressman for saying the GOP's health care plans amount to wanting sick people to "die quickly."

Republicans led by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia drafted a resolution last week scolding Democrat Alan Grayson for his remarks. The measure mirrored a resolution that Democrats pushed through last month against Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for shouting "You lie!" at President Barack Obama.

Price spokesman Brendan Buck said Tuesday the GOP still isn't ruling out pursuing the measure.

"But at this point the people of his district are probably in the best position to register their approval or disapproval of Mr. Grayson's consistently embarrassing behavior," Buck said.

Buck also acknowledged that passing the measure could be difficult. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week declined to call for Grayson to apologize, saying Republicans have made similar criticisms of Democratic health care proposals and that there was no reason to single out Grayson. She also asked all lawmakers to tone down their rhetoric.

Grayson, a first-term congressman from Orlando known for being pugnacious, delivered his health care remarks on the House floor last week.

"If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly," he said. "That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick."

He has refused to apologize, citing research showing that thousands of people die each year for lack of health insurance and that Republican health care plans wouldn't help them.

As Republicans threatened to try to reprimand him last week, Grayson continued insulting them, calling them "knuckle-dragging Neanderthals" and "hypocrites." Saying he wanted "to usher in a new era of bipartisanship," he also mockingly invited Price to be his campaign finance director, saying the controversy has boosted his fundraising.

Grayson, who is Jewish, did apologize to the Anti-Defamation League, however, for calling the health care crisis a holocaust, saying he regretted using the word.

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