Leahy single handedly derails plan to honor fire fighting heroes.
Leahy Nixes Medals for 9/11 Heroes
In addition to leading the charge against President Bush's judicial nominees, Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., has decided that a whole new category of Americans are unsuitable for high honors: the heroes of 9/11.
The leading Senate liberal has single-handedly torpedoed a plan to pay tribute to cops and firefighters who gave their lives in last September's terrorist attacks, the New York Post reports in Friday editions.
The new "Presidential Medal of Valor" was created just a year ago, with the hero cops and firemen slated to become its first honorees.
But though the House of Representatives unanimously approved the 9/11 tribute, Leahy, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has decided to nix a committee vote on the proposal, effectively killing the idea.
In a bizarre statement issued by the top Democrat's office, Leahy hinted somewhat incredibly that honoring the 9/11 heroes might somehow offend other cops and firefighters.
An "independent advisory panel" of ex-cops and former firefighters is supposed to make nominations for the medal, he argued, adding, "It's fitting that public safety officers themselves play a role in selecting the honorees."
In this case the impetus for the 9/11 tribute came instead from Congress, which, the Senator says, violates agreed upon protocol for the awards.
Leahy staffers also suggested that honoring all 400 cops and firefighters who died on 9/11 would far exceed the planned limit of 5 such presidential public safety valor medals per year.
The Vermont liberal's decision to snub the 9/11 heroes outraged the bill's sponsor.
"This is a no-brainer," Rep. Joe Crowley, D-NY, told the Post. "Those guys knew what was facing them, and still they put that frickin' gear on and raced up the stairwells. If that's not heroism, I don't know what is."
Crowley's firefighter-cousin died in the 9/11 rescue effort.
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