Gabby Giffords

FLASHBACK: Gabby Giffords Faced Threats Over Heath Care Vote

Ryan J. Reilly | January 8, 2011, 6:24PM

Picture of vandalized congressional office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)

Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) was facing threats long before she was shot in the head today at a supermarket in Arizona.

Though it's not yet clear what motivated the attack on Giffords -- though suspect Jared Loughner has left a long internet trail -- the attack came after numerous threats against Giffords over the past couple of years.

Giffords's father Spencer Gifford, 75, told the New York Post that her enemies were "the whole Tea Party."

But as Zachary Roth also outlined, Giffords has consistently faced threats, mostly for her view on health care reform.

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Health Care Reform

King: Babies In Garbage Cans Prove Health Reform Is Unconstitutional (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | January 6, 2011, 3:34PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), master of the pithy C-SPAN clip, made an original argument today for why health care reform is unconstitutional during an emergency House rules meeting about the GOP's upcoming vote to repeal it.

After Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) said that health insurance counts as interstate commerce and therefore falls under the Congress's constitutional powers, King argued that there are people who never even use health care -- and therefore a law requiring them to buy insurance is unconstitutional.

"There have always been and likely will always be, babies that were born, lived and died within the jurisdictions of the individual states," he said, "who never cross a state line, access no health care and therefore do not impact interstate commerce. Therefore, to compel someone who fits that category to buy an insurance policy" does not fit under the interstate commerce clause.

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