Republican lawmakers said Democrats are not the only ones receiving threats against them by people angry over health care, with one GOP leader accusing the majority of further endangering lawmakers by “ratcheting up the rhetoric.”
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told reporters someone fired a gun at the window of his Richmond campaign office Tuesday, two days after Republicans vigorously but unsuccessfully opposed passage of the president’s $940 billion health care program.
Cantor made the disclosure after Democratic leaders took to the airways and sent out e-mails accusing the GOP of stoking public anger over the new health care law that they believe provoked threats and incidents involving about 10 Democratic lawmakers.
“To use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible,” Cantor said in response to the accusations.
Cantor’s comments came after Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who heads the House Democratic fundraising arm, told MSNBC he believes the GOP is stirring up anger by “pouring more and more gasoline on the flames” with their opposition to the law.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., appearing on the same station, accused Republicans of “aiding and abetting this kind of terrorism” by cheering on the health care protesters who surrounded the Capitol last weekend.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stopped short of telling Republicans to keep quiet about their opposition to the bill, but she warned “words have power, they weigh a ton, and they are received differently by people depending on their, shall we say, emotional state.”
Democrats have reported a variety of threats and incidents in recent days — threats, and in two cases, broken windows in district offices.
Cantor said he disclosed the incident at his office to show that Republicans have also been targeted.
Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, received a profanity-laced call this week from a man who threatened to use his “9 millimeter” on the Tea Party activists who came to the Capitol to oppose the health care bill. The caller also said he wished Schmidt, who appeared at one of the rallies, had broken her back when she was hit by a car while jogging in 2008.
Other Republicans say threats are nothing new.
“I have had death threats in the past in most of the years I’ve served in Congress,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who opposes gay marriage and amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said when he first expressed his opinion that global warming is a hoax, “I got life-threatening things at that time.”
And the office of Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., acknowledged it has received threats.
“Just last week, a caller to the office threatened the senator and his staff and we turned the matter over to the Capitol Police,” DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton said.
