Rudy Giuliani is being awfully quiet. He used to claim that he had been to the Ground Zero site "as often, if not more, than most workers. I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them."

That means Giuliani knows the risks. So why isn't he speaking out against the Senate GOP's heartless decision to vote against the Health Bill for the 9/11 responders?

Composed of mostly cops and firemen, the majority of those responders presumably GOP's voters themselves, it seems remarkable that they could be called heroes in 2001 and claimant fraudsters in 2010.

Why would Senate Republicans balk at the modest price tag for this bipartisan bill when they thought nothing of approving tax cuts for the nations richest one percent and ballooning the deficit?

Earlier this month Senate Republicans blocked the measure with a filibuster as part of their pledge to halt all legislation until passage of the tax bill. President Obama signed the tax bill last week but the GOP have still not acted.

Why? Is it because the former heroes of 9/11 are now seen as a bunch of latter day money grabbing welfare queens in the eyes of the GOP Senate? Critics say that Republican senators see this bill as an 'entitlement' program. That means it would help the needy. That makes it a socialist handout. They also don't like the zip code, which is no fault of the first responders.

What a shame the Senate GOP have voted to keep tax breaks for themselves while those who ran toward the twin towers when everyone else was running away are forgotten by the party that - just a few years earlier - wrapped itself up in the flag and made commitments that they simply haven't kept.

UPDATE: Yesterday Rudy finally spoke out. “This should not be seen as a Democratic or Republican issue,” Giuliani said on a Fox News affiliate. “It shouldn’t even be seen as a fiscal issue. It’s a matter of morality, of obligation.”

Hear, hear. It's sad to see how wrapped up in politics the GOP are willing to become. It's at the expense of the nation every time.