At this point it seems that it is merely a partisan fight. They will not vote for something an overwhelming majority of Americans wants because the Republican leadership doesn’t want to go against the Republican president on such a big issue. An issue that is a bi partisan, majority supported bill for our frickin’ children!!!

Representative Tiahrt,

As a Kansan I have called every one of our Representatives, participated in several different vigils and rallies, and worked on my political blog to gain support for the SCHIP expansion. I was very disappointed to see that even after the revisions to the bill that addressed what your concerns were, you still voted against it in the last vote.

I have 5 children, will be working 3 jobs and my husband works 2. We are lucky that his main job offers us good insurance for our family. There was a time last year; however, that wasn’t the case. Now we have thousands of dollars in medical bills that piled up very quickly with the birth of our son and his subsequent illnesses. We made too much money to qualify for Healthwave and we couldn’t afford private insurance.

You are ignoring 81% of the US population that supports the SCHIP expansion, 71% of whom would support it even if it meant a tax increase. You see, even if our children aren’t important to you they are to us. Due to Republican leadership and corruption our health care system is seriously flawed. I had to pay $600 for my baby’s first check up and immunizations, something that is required by law but that we could not get assistance for.

I would like to know what your position is now for not voting for SCHIP. The revisions in the bill would phase out coverage for childless adults (most states don’t have this anyway) within one year, there would not be coverage for anyone making 3 times the federal poverty level, and it would require stricter checking of social security numbers.

Surely 35 billion dollars over 5 years is not too much money when it comes to protecting this nation’s children. After all, you and your party are only too happy throw billions more into the illegal Iraq war. Are the deaths of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis worth more to you than the lives of our children?

The United States is second only to Latvia for the highest infant mortality rate in modern countries. It is time to listen to your constituents and stop blindly following the failed leadership of George Bush and do what is right.

I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.

Summer R. Ludwig

Namely it will not allow coverage to families who make more than 3 times the federal poverty line, it would phase out coverage to young childless couples over a one year period (some states offer this, not all), and require stricter checking of applicant’s social security numbers.

“This is a clarification of the legislation” stated Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi denied requests from moderate Republicans for more time before the vote, which is scheduled for today, in order to try and get more supporters from their conservative partners.

The bill will almost certainly pass a majority vote before going on to get vetoed by our obstinate president. The changes made to the bill address his concerns except that the money is still coming from a cigarette tax which he opposes. Let’s hope that this time our Representatives will be able to override the veto and get the protection in place that our children deserve.

Mike Viqueira, NBC News’ reporter, has seen a lot of anger in the House Republicans who feel that these changes might just cause enough Republicans to deflect and actually support America’s children. The changes are specifically targeted to 38 Republicans who supported the veto and then wrote a letter detailing their concerns. The bill’s supporters are certain that these concerns are addressed now in the new legislation.

This just may mean success, now that their “legitimate” concerns have been addressed it will be harder for them to refuse to listen to a majority of American citizens, their constituents, without seriously damaging their opportunity for reelection. My fingers are crossed.

Now, we’ve all seen overused catch phrases in politics, rhetoric that means nothing, but this time the issue at hand was “for the children”. As we have written about on this blog, SCHIP is a good program. The expansion would ensure coverage for 10 million US children. It’s supported by 81% of America with 71% of America saying they would support it even if it raised their taxes.

How can Right Wing spinmeisters take something that is overwhelmingly approved by the citizens and turn it into something dirty and evil? By repeating lies upon lies upon lies; by attacking the spokespeople for this bill; by calling Nancy Pelosi “pathetic” for attempting to get our Representatives to think of the children that this bill is designed for before they voted.

Nancy Pelosi in addressing the House before the vote stated, “We’ve had a much higher goal. This is what is achievable for the children. It should have been signed by the president. There is no reason that he has given that is consistent with the facts.”

If you’ve really looked into this story you know that she was right. Every reason that the president gave for vetoing this legislation was faulty or an outright lie. For more on this please see our story here.

I am surmising that because Rush knows that he cannot counter her logic with any evidence, facts, or truth he must immediately rail against her and get all of his cowardly followers up in arms. He does by stating, “That is embarrassing. That, folks, is literally pathetic. It is embarrassing!”

Exactly what was embarrassing or pathetic about telling the truth and imploring the House to do the right thing and think of the right people when they voted? NOTHING! That doesn’t matter; however, when you’re dealing with the radical right. Because they cannot defend their own ignorant positions they counter with baseless attacks the democrats, even when they are working on a bi-partisan piece of legislation that is approved by an overwhelming majority of America, and is FOR THE CHILDREN.

That is why Rush Limbaugh is this week’s SINNER!

The final vote fell just shy 273 to 156, 9 13 (( edited to correct my bad math )) votes short of passing. For those who enjoy a moral victory I guess this is a good one. We managed to convince 44 Republicans to cross the isle in what counts as a strong bi-partisan effort in today’s politics. I am particularly pissed at the two Democrats who crossed over. They were Marshall(Georgia) and Taylor (Mississippi). Democrats are the party of the working people, maybe these guys didn’t get the memo.

Well, just wanted to get this out there while its still fresh. I hope that I never lose my job, and with it my family’s health insurance, otherwise this moral victory won’t make me feel better at all. I feel sorry for the millions of children who won’t appreciate this either. Luckily the Democrat who makes it to the White House next will care more about the health of our children than whatever it is Republicans care about. War, death, and killing I guess.

~ William ~

“We’re gonna hold candles and make George Bush say he’s sorry.”

“What should he apologize for?” I asked bemused at his answer.

“He doesn’t want all the kids to go to the doctor and get shots and be healthy every day.”

At this point his 5 year old sister chimed it, “It’s because he’s wrong, he thinks kids don’t want to go to the doctor but they really really do. Maybe he just needs a hug and a time out.”

To set the stage a little we do explain in child friendly age appropriate terms what is going on in our country, especially if it impacts them or someone close to them. We try very hard to present facts and not to indoctrinate them into our personal beliefs. We encourage critical thinking, asking questions, and being able to come up with your own ideas on things.

I’m usually pretty amazed at the way the kids, especially the younger ones, grasp things. They are very caring and at times inform others of their opinions. Tonight we ran by the store to buy candles and our daughter was chatting up everyone she could about the importance of the “candle virgil” and how “George Bush said ‘no healthy surance!’”

This enthusiasm and genuine empathy for others is something that I wished people never lost. If we could just see things through the eyes of a child more often perhaps we would be better off.

The vigil was wonderful, all the kids there did an awesome job and should be an inspiration to us adults. Our daughter did scare one little girl with the statement, “kids need healthy surance so they can get shots!” but overall it was great. Oh, and if anyone sees a chalk drawing on the sidewalk outside of the capital building that looks an awful lot like a part of the male anatomy, my son assures me it is a snail going to the doctor. I guess he has “healthy surance”.

If you haven’t already please contact your Representatives and urge them to override the president’s veto on SCHIP. You can find the contact info HERE.

After reading story after story by the religious right attacking private citizens and democrats alike, I decided it was time to cut through the crap. You would think an intelligent person would stop saying something once it is discredited. Sadly for the religious right’s base that is not necessary as they will apparently believe anything their masters tell them.

Issue #1: SCHIP is funded by Democrats’ Cigarette Tax
Every single attack story I have read or heard lately has included this one yet not a single one of those told the whole story. The cigarette tax was originally suggested by Senator Gordon Smith a Republican out of Ohio and had broad approval by both Republicans and Democrats. So where are the attacks on the Republicans for supporting the tax or the attacks on Gordon Smith for proposing the tax? Oh right, they’re Republicans so they’re off limits.

Senator Gordon Smith on the tax. “”I have a long record of opposing tax increases, but I have a consistent record of supporting tobacco tax increases because of the strong nexus that exists between the use of tobacco products and the costs that are then borne by public health,” Smith said.” So there you go right wingers, now that you know who to attack I’m waiting to read the stories tomorrow.

Issue #2: SCHIP will Cover incomes up to $83,000
This was a lie when Bush said it and it is still a lie. That hasn’t stopped virtually everyone from repeating it though. The $83K ($82,600) number was determined when New York wanted to cover families with incomes 400% of the poverty level. The president has the authority to deny any similar requests and had already done so when he made his now (in)famous assertion.

he more realistic number is $51,625 for a family of four which is 250% of the federal poverty level. This is due to stricter state guidelines from the Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services. 11 States currently allow families of higher income and 33 allow less. North Dakota’s limit is only 140% of the poverty level or $28,910 for a family of four.

Issue #3: SCHIP is Socialized Health Care
If one of you would click on my Google Adwords for each time I have read this nonsense today (hint hint, lol) I would be a very happy man. This program is almost the polar opposite of socialized health care as it helps put millions of uninsured children onto PRIVATE HEALTH CARE. Seriously, what the hell about private health care is so hard to figure out?

Issue #4: SCHIP is meant to help the poor
Another great fallacy that our president helped get started is this crazy notion that SCHIP is to help the poor get insurance. Poor families already have a program to help with medical care, its called Medicaid. SCHIP, when established in 1997, was to help out those that make too much for Medicaid but too little for private insurance.

SCHIP was never intended to help the poor but that hasn’t stopped the right wing smear machine from pumping their base with lies which they eagerly eat up and regurgitate onto the internet.

The Bottom Line:
The SCHIP expansion promises to provide insurance to millions of children at a relatively low cost of 35 billion over 5 years. While to the average Joe that seems an unthinkable amount of money it is important to place that in perspective. Over the same time period our country has spent more than 2 TRILLION on the war in Iraq.

What does it say about our national priorities when spending a relatively small amount of money to provide health insurance for our children is less important than an optional/illegal war? I can’t speak for you but the health of our children is a much higher priority than a war that isn’t accomplishing anything.

References:
CommonDreams.org (September 23, 2007 ) War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says

FactCheck.org (September 21, 2007) Bush’s False Claims About Children’s Health Insurance

Tax Foundation (March 30, 2007) Tax Fairness Would Suffer under Senator Smith’s Cigarette Tax Hike

The Oregonian (February 27 2007) Smith supports federal tobacco tax hike to fund children’s health coverage

He did agree with some other conservatives that this could be a stepping stone toward Universal Healthcare and that was not acceptable to him or the president. When these arguments were refuted, fairly well, by Rangel who pointed out that this was an offer of insurance, not healtcare, that it would cover 10 million children in america, and that they have been in ongoing negotiations with the White House as their first request was for 50 billion dollars and not the 35 billion dollars they have worked it down to. He explained that by dropping the figure lower they would lose coverage for over 1 million children. Rangel asserted that it is the White House who is not willing to work with Congress on a bipartisan bill supported by the majority of American citizens.

I immediately thought ahead wondering what the rebuttal would be from Putnam. Imagine my anger when this is what spewed from his smarmy mouth. “This is a telling statement that he’s more interested in playing political games than compromising.” WTF? That “statement” had never been uttered by Mr. Rangel, in fact he had just explained the negotiations that were still taking place.

In addition to flat out deceit, Putnam bolstered his position by saying that 2 million children would be covered by SCHIP who already have private insurance. He is very opposed to taking children away from private insurance. Remember, SCHIP will aid families who make too much for Medicaid assistance but too little for private health insurance. For those families that have sacrificed to secure private health insurance at exorbitant rates, this would be a huge assistance. This would free up money for them to get groceries, pay bills, etc. and still have peace of mind that their kids’ medical needs will be met.

It does not sound to me like the Republicans are the party for average, working America. This is something that Democrats have known for a long time, maybe something like this will motivate America to demand that their government listen to them, to demand the Republican party and this administration be accountable to their constituents. America deserves much more than rhetorical games to explain why our government; which is to rule for the people, is ignoring our plain wishes on nearly every major issue. As of yesterday morning the House was about 15-20 votes shy of the amount needed to override the veto. Please go HERE and write your representative, let them know that you support health insurance coverage for children in America.