Grassley fires back at Specter for ‘death panel’ charge

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) shot back at Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) after the latter called Grassley’s office saying that he has been spreading “myths” about “death panels” and healthcare reform.

The Senate Finance Committee ranking member tweeted Friday:

Specter got it all wrong that I ever used words “death boards”. Even liberal press never accused me of that. So change ur last Tweet Arlen

Specter tweeted an hour earlier that he called Grassley’s office to tell him to stop spreading falsehoods about end-of-life provisions in the healthcare reform bill.

Earlier this week, the Iowa Republican echoed claims first made by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) that the end-of-life provision would create a government “death panel” that would decide end-of-life issues but did not use the her phrase.

Such decisions “ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you’re going to pull the plug on grandma,” Grassley said.

Grassley announced yesterday that the Finance Committee would drop end-of-life provisions from its version of the bill “because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room