Video link from politico.com

Freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, came under fire from Republicans this week after summarizing the Republican health care plan as “Don’t get sick” and, if you do, “Die quickly.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called Grayson’s remarks “a calculated scare tactic and smear” and said Democrats serious about “civil debate on the floor of the House” should demand an apology.

Grayson took to the House floor Wednesday to offer an “apology” that drew more GOP outrage: “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.”

Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, who is a devout Jew, responded: “Comparing the American health care system to the systematic murdering of over six million Jews is totally outrageous and unfit for someone holding public office. Congressman Grayson should apologize to the Jewish community and the families of those whose loved ones were brutally executed.” (more…)

The Florida House this morning restored about $63,000 in funding for the state Holocaust Museum, pictured left. And here’s the partisan press release from the House Republican Office that accuses a handful of Democrats of, well, partisanship.

“It is outrageous that 13 Democrats would put partisan politics ahead of increasing funding for education about the Holocaust by voting against this measure,” House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, said in the release.

What happened this morning was that Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie, offered this amendment to move about $35,000 away from the school recognition program to the holocaust museum, which is located in St. Petersburg.

Hasner then upped the ante by offering a substitute amendment that took even more money from the Excellent Teaching Program.

But several Democrats — 13 to be exact — voted against Hasner’s amendment, including several who said they didn’t want to take any money out of the state education budget.