SCHIP override vote fails....AGAIN

A day late here but since I am packing and moving this week, it is what it is.

What is the definition of insanity again? Doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result could be called....INSANE.

So, lets recap recent history here right quick, before getting to the latest failed attempt in Congress to override the the second Bush veto on SCHIP.

First, Congress and the Senate passed a bad bill that allowed families not of lower income to place their children on the State Children Health Insurance Program, ass well as a significant number of adults, knowing full well that the President would veto it, which he did, and also knowing beforehand that the House did not have the votes to override the veto.

Here are six simple facts about SCHIP, showing why it was a badly written bill and why it was vetoed to begin with.

Then the Democrats unwisely decided to use a 12 yr old child as a human shield instead of fixing the SCHIP bill, which we discussed here, here and here.

Next the House failed to override the presidential veto, as they knew originally they would.

The the Democrats took advantage of the California wildfires to pass what was basically the same flawed bill through again, once again, KNOWING that it would be vetoed,which it was again.

Then we saw statements showing that the Democrats deliberately sent through a bill they knew would be vetoed just to keep it as a political issue.

So, Bush vetoes the bad SCHIP bill, again, the House knows it doesn't have the votes to override, decides to postpone the inevitable override failure until the new year begins, but in the meantime....they pass and the President signs an extension of the previous law, which will stay in effect until March of 2009.

So,the children are covered through March of 2009, which makes the idiocy of yesterdays vote even more pathetic.

All caught up? Good, because the insanity continued yesterday.

Yesterday the House once again failed to override the presidential veto of the last SCHIP bill that Congress pushed through because, as they knew to begin, they did not have a two thirds majority to override. (Here is roll call)

John Boehner issued a statement which pretty much covers it:

Today, the House will hold a politically-orchestrated vote to override the President’s veto of a flawed “children’s” health care bill that actually would cover illegal immigrants, adults, and families who already have health insurance. Sound familiar? It should. That’s because the House held the same vote three months ago, when the House sustained the President’s first veto of this irresponsible legislation. Today’s political games are especially disappointing since Congress voted in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion last month to extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) into 2009 and cover the program’s funding shortfall – a bill modeled on legislation introduced by House Republicans all the way back in September.

In any case, the House could have held this override vote in December after the President vetoed it, but leaders of the Majority pushed it off for more than a month in an attempt to drum up more support. Did it work? Not at all, according to today’s Congressional Quarterly:

“House Democrats will attempt Wednesday to override President Bush’s second veto of a children’s health insurance bill, but they will likely win little new Republican support, and the effort is expected to fail.”

The problems with the Majority’s most recent sham SCHIP bill are countless, but here are just a handful:

* It fails to put low-income children first.
* It insures adults and illegal immigrants.
* It forces some two million children from private health insurance to government-run care.
* It contains a massive tax hike and district-specific earmarks and pork projects.
* And according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) it even COSTS MORE and COVERS FEWER CHILDREN than the Majority’s original SCHIP legislation, which the President vetoed last fall.

During today’s debate, the Majority will say their flawed SCHIP bill is necessary because of our increasingly-uncertain economy. But what they won’t tell you, according to House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), is that their “children’s” health care measure would actually make matters far worse for low-income families already feeling the economic strain:

“During these challenging days, it would be irresponsible to expand the SCHIP program to cover adults, illegal immigrants, and those who already have private health insurance at the expense of the low-income children who need it most. But in spite of our sluggish economy, which is making matters even more difficult for low-income families with children, that is exactly what the Majority’s flawed SCHIP bill would do.”

Last year, Democrats routinely used our nation’s children as a political football, and their strategy imploded. Apparently unfazed by their failure, they seem poised to keep on playing the political games in 2008 – and their allies on the Left seem willing to join them once again. After tens of millions of dollars – and countless hours – spent fruitlessly by House Democrats and their liberal allies, will the Majority finally acknowledge the need to work with Republicans to put low-income children first? Or will they continue to push flawed bill after flawed bill that insures illegal immigrants and adults at the expense of the low-income children both parties designed SCHIP to serve in the first place?

So, the House failed once again, starting out the new year the way they ended the last year....as failures that care more for political games than they do getting anything accomplishedin a bipartisan manner.

Things like the Stimulus package that they can come to agreement on, is being criticized by the far left already, but that is no surprise, because they just want the politicians to bicker and complain anytime they manage to agree on anything.

To be fair, there are some on the left that disagree with the one I linked to above as does some of his own commenter's.

Last but not least, they are also battling the FISA fight again, which promises to be the same partisan fight that takes tons of time and wastes our taxpayers money....

Hell it even has the Democratic politicians fighting with each other again.

I will bring more about that as it comes out.

Ain't politics GRAND?

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Bush Signs Extension of SCHIP into Law

Short and sweet, the President signed the extension of SCHIP into law today and despite the best efforts of the Politicians to make it a shorter extension so that it could be "used" in the 2008 elections, this bill will cover the SCHIP program until March 31, 2009.

The legislation also provides a 0.5 percent increase for Medicare doctors for six months, delaying a scheduled 10 percent pay cut.

Bush twice vetoed more ambitious earlier bills that would have expanded the children's health program to cover about 10 million children in low and moderate income families, despite bipartisan support.

Bush and Democrats have been locked in a fight over budget and spending and the president said the previous bills were too costly and would push more children into government-run health care instead of private plans.

Bush also objected to raising tobacco taxes to pay for the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program known as SCHIP.

Democrats had hoped for a short-term extension so they could reopen the battle before the November 2008 presidential and congressional elections, but Republicans forced them to extend it through March 2009.

Amazing to me how some politicians would have rather made it a short extension, risking the low incomes childrens health insurance in upcoming battles, simply to "use" the children as a political tool in the 2008 elections.

How sick is that?

This is what politics have become.

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Gerbils Running on that little wheel and getting nowhere

Short and sweet. You know those little gerbils that run on that wheel in their cage and get nowhere, yet they keep running anyway ecause they aren't smart enough to understand they are getting nowhere?

That is our politicians on SCHIP.

Quick history:

The house and senate passes a SCHIP bill, knowing it will be vetoed, holds a 12 yr old kid up as a human shield to hide from the fact that it is a bad bill, it gets vetoed, they also knew and stated they did not have the votes to override the veto.......so what do they do?

Pass an almost identical bill which just got vetoed again.

President Bush vetoed a children’s health measure on Wednesday afternoon, effectively killing Democrats’ hopes of expanding a popular government program aimed at providing insurance to children in lower-income and middle-income families.

“Because the Congress has chosen to send me an essentially identical bill that has the same problems as the flawed bill I previously vetoed, I must veto this legislation, too,” the president said in a statement, reiterating his objections to the proposed expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, commonly known as S-Chip.

“I continue to stand ready to work with the leaders of the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, to reauthorize the S-Chip program in a way that puts poor children first, moves adults out of a program meant for children, and does not abandon the bipartisan tradition that marked the original enactment of the S-Chip program,” Mr. Bush said. “In the interim, I call on the Congress to extend funding under the current program to ensure no disruption of services to needy children.”

Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result.

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Political Lesson To Be Learned From Oregon Voters Rejecting SCHIP

Our Politicians in Congress and the Senate have a problem, which the Oregon voters have managed to point out, and that problem is that voters are smarter than the politicians were hoping for.

Oregon voters understood what the politicians in Washington were hoping they wouldn't and that is the SCHIP program, as written is unworkable, allows adults and higher income families to join in a program designed and named as a program for lower income CHILDREN.

From the Wall Street Journal's, Opinion Journal, we see the lesson that I highly doubt our politicians will learn, but just because they are incapable of learning, doesn't make the lesson go away it only shows that the politicians themselves are incompetent and deaf to the American public.

Schip Wreck
Oregon voters send a message on HillaryCare.

Oregon voters passed judgment Tuesday on a plan that would have made their state children's health insurance program "universal." Sound familiar?

It should, because Oregon reproduced the current Schip fracas in D.C. on the state level--and the referendum took a major shellacking, with voters siding three to two against. Oregon's expansion was almost identical to the one backed by Congressional Democrats, so let's conduct a post-mortem, which may also be a portent.

Like Beltway Democrats, Governor Ted Kulongoski and his legislature wanted to broaden eligibility for Oregon's "Healthy Kids" Schip program to 300% of the federal poverty level. They would also allow all families to opt in, regardless of income, though higher earners wouldn't get subsidies. Again like Congress, Salem intended to pay for the expansion with cigarette taxes, which would increase to $2.02 from $1.18 a pack. That would be one of the highest state tobacco levies in the nation.

Democrats couldn't dredge up the three-fifths approval required for a tax increase in the legislature, so they kicked the expansion over to the ballot. And already, Measure 50's defeat is being blamed on $12 million in advertising by Big Tobacco. "What happened was, the tobacco industry bought the election," Governor Kulongoski declared yesterday.

We're surprised the Governor thinks voters in his left-leaning state are so easily gulled--especially in a contest between "healthy kids" and cigarettes. More persuasive is the notion that voters didn't want to pass a state tax increase to finance a health-care expansion that Congress might soon pass, along with buckets of federal dollars. But most likely, voters understood that a tax increase on cigarettes is still a tax increase, and a highly regressive one at that. Only about 20% of Oregonians smoke, and most of those are lower income.

[...]

There are political lessons here, in case anyone in Washington is paying attention. Voters are rightly concerned about health care and would like everyone to have insurance, but they realize that government programs are very expensive. Americans also don't seem to want to pay for health-care reforms directly through higher taxes. That accounts for the reliance by politicians on the easier sell of tobacco taxes, and it also explains why Congress has disguised the real cost of its Schip contraption with a $30 billion budget gimmick. (No thanks to GOP Senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley.)

As for state-level reforms beyond Schip, California may be the next overhyped reform to fail. The last, best hope for Arnold Schwarzenegger's foundering "universal" plan is to imitate Oregon by passing a legislative blueprint and then dumping funding responsibility onto the voters via a referendum. Tuesday's vote doesn't bode well for that prospect.

The President will once again veto the poorly written, unworkable SCHIP bill that Congress and the senate has passed and he will do so for the very reasons that the Oregon voters rejected it.

Once again, it is not too early to start making your calls and letting your representatives know that they need to fix this bill and cover the low income children that the bill is supposed to cover.

Not adults. Not higher income families. Language allowing state law to override the bills enrollment eligibility must be removed.

Here are the facts of the bill, the problems that need to be fixEd and the people you need to call to tell them to sustain the President's upcoming veto and get to work on a workable bill instead of wasting our time and our tax dollars on a bill that has no chance of actually working and hiding behind the false assertion that "it is for the kids" and start making it FOR THE KIDS.

Note to Congress: STOP PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES AND DO YOUR JOBS.

[Update] Another lesson to the politicians came in NJ on stem cell research.

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Democrats Deliberately Torpedoed SCHIP Bill

I see a NYT article listing the missteps on both sides of the aisle on SCHIP but one specific paragraph stands out.

Staff members who shaped the White House strategy include Allan B. Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council; Keith B. Hennessey, a former policy director for Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi; and Julie L. Goon, a special assistant to the president.

In an interview, Mr. Hubbard said his work on the bill had been extremely frustrating.

“I was told last January or February by Democrats that their game plan was to send the president a bill that was too big to swallow, and it would be a beautiful political issue for them,” Mr. Hubbard said.

We have pointed this out before here at Wake up America. To the Democrats SCHIP isn't about the children, it is about using the children to gain political points.

What NYT completely misses is that the bill was written badly and instead of fixing the problems with the original bill that allowed almost half the recipients in some states to be adults and higher income families, the Democrats expanded on it.

They did this knowing the president would veto it, he told them multiple times, then when he did veto it, instead of addressing these very real issues, the Democrats trotted out a 12 year old human shield to hide behind and screamed as loudly as they could, its for the kids.

Then make it for the kids and quit hiding, quit playing political games and get those children covered.

They passed this bill again in the Senate and the House and once again it will be vetoed and the House does not have the votes to override this veto either.

Here are the facts of the SCHIP bill and why it will be vetoed and at that link is also the numbers for your to call to tell your representative to once again sustain the veto.

Further problems are listed over at Heading Right:

The S-CHIP proposal had serious flaws, and neither version of the bill addressed them. It added middle-class children to a program designed to subsidize health insurance for the poor, and it used cigarette taxes — a very regressive tax — to fund the difference. In order for the numbers to work out, the plan presumed a growth of cigarette smokers of around 22 million to fund the program for all ten years, despite a decline in smoking over the last few years, pushed by government anti-smoking campaigns. It was a fiscally irresponsible plan, and the White House had a more modest approach that would have expanded coverage to more poor children through tax incentives that Congress completely ignored.

SCHIP is a necessary program for those children that are not qualified for medicaid because their families earn too much but not enough to afford private healthcare.

Those are the intended recipients and those are what this bill should focus on.

Not adults, not higher income families that can afford private healthcare and the wording in the bill needs to fix the problem of grandfathering in certain state laws which allows families to bypass the eligibility set in the SCHIP bill to allow those with the means to afford their own healthcare to instead enroll into SCHIP.

There are many problems with the way this latest SCHIP bill is written but all we have to look at is the previous problems found with the older bill, that are not addressed in the new bill.

SCHIP- State Children's Health Insurance Program.

In 2006, 118,501 children and 101,919 adults in Michigan received health care from the S-CHIP program. Incredibly, this means that 46 percent of Michigan’s funding allotment intended to give poor children health insurance actually went to cover adults. (Source-Tim Walberg-congressman from Michigan’s Seventh District.)

That is one example of the previous problems... lets look at the problems with this newer version and please keep in mind what SCHIP stands for when looking at the following figures:

FACT SIX: (Pointed out by Heading Right)

However, the Republicans haven’t given up. The GOP contingent on the House Energy And Commerce Committee have published some interesting data about the “children” — they’re awfully mature in many cases. Several states will spend more than 44% of their S-CHIP grants on adults in 2008, and that excludes pregnant women. In Michigan, that total goes to 71%. In most cases, the money gets spent on the parents more than the kids

Here are those states:

Illinois: 52.6% (51.2% parents)
Michigan: 71.6% (all childless adults)
Minnesota: 77.8% (all parents)
New Jersey: 54.6% (all parents)
New Mexico: 79% (26.7% parents, 52.3% childless adults)
Rhode Island: 52.4% (all parents)
Wisconsin: 43.9% (all parents)

44% will be spent on adults in 2008 and that doesn't not include pregnant women.

SCHIP- State Children's Health Insurance Program.

What part of SCHIP is so hard to understand?

Go take a look at a few more facts and then start dialing that phone because the President will be vetoing it again and it is time that everyone starts negotiating to do what is best for the children and not sending the President a "bill that was too big to swallow" so that they have a "beautiful political issue".

The children deserve better than that.

Our wounded veterans deserve better than this also... take a look at the description in roll call vote in the Senate.

What do our wounded servicemembers have to do with SCHIP? Our politicians are holding the wounded veterans hostage to the faulty SCHIP Bill.

Measure number: Number:H.R. 3963 (Support for Injured Servicemembers Act )

Measure title: A bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes.

Are you beginning to see how our politicians are playing politics with our low income children and our wounded veterans instead of getting them both the funds they need?

They are doing this so when the President vetoes the bill, they can "use it" politically to cry out, the President vetoed the veterans funds.

Disgusting.

They actually think we, the people, are stupid enough that we will not see through their little game.

The have underestimated us, once again.

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Democrats are full of SCHIP again

In one of the lowest political moves seen yet by the Democratic politicians, they deliberately take advantage of the horrible major disaster of the California wildfires for political games and the fact that members of the house are in California taking care of their constituents, to schedule a vote on their new rendition of the badly written SCHIP bill, a bill they have already been told, once again, will be vetoed.

From yesterdays update:

Michelle Malkin shows, via an email from Roy Blunt, us another politician, Nancy Pelosi, that is trying to take advantage of this tremendously horrible disaster for political purposes to take advantage of the fact that California politicians are busy helping their state and homes, so that she can sneak another SCHIP bill through while they are gone.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement today after House Democrats announced they plan to push through controversial SCHIP legislation tomorrow while a number of members from southern California are back in their districts responding to the wildfires:

“The scope, scale and severity of the fires raging in southern California are of a magnitude few of us have ever seen. What’s important right now is that members from the area be given the chance to return to their districts to aid their constituents in any way they can – whether through casework, disaster relief efforts, or simply lending a hand to a neighbor in need.

“Unfortunately, the speaker announced plans today to hold an important, and contentious, vote on SCHIP while these members are confronting serious issues at home – disenfranchising, in effect, a large segment of the most populous state in the union, and throwing into doubt the integrity of the vote.

“In light of these circumstances, I would urge the speaker to reconsider her strategy and delay the vote on her SCHIP bill until a time when the interests of millions of Americans in southern California can be accurately represented. Maybe in that time Democrats will also actually consider making a copy of the bill available to Republicans.”

Once again, in a political low, using the California wildfires to take advantage of the fact that members of the house are taking care of their constituents, the Democrats are going to slam through a bill they have made minor tweaks on, pretending it has changed the bill when it hasn't addressed the problems that caused it to be vetoed and caused the veto to be sustained, last time, and they already know will be vetoed and they still acknowledge they do not have the votes in the house to override the veto.

Waste of taxpayers time and money.

Pelosi and crew are so full of SCHIP their eyes are brown.

All Previous posts about SCHIP can be found on one page here.

Go here for the facts about SCHIP and the phone numbers to start calling already to insist that the veto be upheld again, until the Democrats get tired of having their SCHIP filled asses kicked and rewrite the bill to make sure the "loopholes" are closed.

[Update] They passed the bill without the veto proof majority needed to overcome the promised veto. They will never learn.

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Pelosi, the latest politician to rebuke Pete Stark

[Update] 10/23/07- Stark is forced to apologize.

Of course being a Democratic politician, Nancy Pelosi's rebuke was mild, but even she understood some sort of rebuke was necessary from her, as Speaker of the House, regarding Pete Stark's remarks on the floor of the House. (Hat Tip to Lew for the email)

One of Pete Stark's remarks:

"You don't have money to fund the war or children," Stark accused Republicans. "But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

Nancy Pelosi's mild rebuke: (From the San Francisco Chronicle)

"While members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand - providing health care for America's children," Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said.

This is not the first time Nancy Pelosi has had her own underlings in the Democratic party undermine her as she was trying to focus everyones attention on SCHIP.

Right before the SCHIP veto by the president, you might remember that Nancy was upset that House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) decided to unveil his Iraq "war tax" idea, which raged through the blogosphere for about 4 hours before Nancy nixed it publicly, upset that Obey had shifted focus from SCHIP to the war tax, at a critical time.

The Democratic party cannot seem to stay on the same page. Almost like the left hand having no clue what the right hand is doing.

This type of rhetoric from Stark is not new though, his past is strife with him making inappropriate comments, one time, in 2003, the police even had to be called to the hearing.

In 1990, Stark told Health and Human Services Director Louis Sullivan, an African American, that he was a disgrace to his race.

In 2001, Stark made a reference to the children of Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., all being "born out of wedlock. Patently untrue, but that rarely matters to Stark who is known as a back bencher that cannot control his tongue.

He also accused Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., of being a "whore for the insurance industry.

In 2003, Stark, called Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., "a little wimp" and a "little fruitcake" -- and suggested the two should step outside. Capitol police were called to the hearing. (Source)

It is pretty bad when the San Francisco Chronicle says:

Surely there must be someone along the shoreline between Alameda and Fremont who could represent the good citizens of the district with class and dignity. It's not the case now.

Republican politicians had some critical words for Pete Stark following his latest outburst.

John Boehner issued a press release:

“Our troops in Iraq are fighting against al-Qaeda and other radical jihadists hellbent on killing the people we are sent here to represent. Congressman Stark’s statement dishonors not only the Commander-in-Chief, but the thousands of courageous men and women of America’s armed forces who believe in their mission and are putting their lives on the line for our freedom and security. Congressman Stark should retract his statement and apologize to the House, our Commander-in-Chief, and the families of our soldiers and commanders fighting terror overseas. ”

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas:

"It is despicable to have a member of this Congress accuse this president, any president, of willfully blowing the heads, quote, blowing the heads off our young men and women over in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said the remarks:

"were hateful and wrong, and should be labeled as such by the House Democrat leadership."

Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri:

Pete Stark’s statements on the House floor this afternoon crossed all lines of decency and decorum. As a member of Congress, he should be ashamed. But as a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee –- and the current chairman of its Health subcommittee –- the Democratic leadership ought to be ashamed as well.”

Steny Hoyer (D) said Stark's remarks were "unfortunate" and "totally inappropriate", he then went on to say that he's hopeful that Stark will express his regrets because he says that these comments have been a distraction and CNN is told that several Democratic lawmakers have called Stark today and made it clear that what Stark said on the House floor yesterday was hurting their cause.

That comment from Hoyer is not going to make the lunatic fringe of their party very happy at all, because the far left, liberal, unhinged portion of the party do not want Stark to apologize and those are the people that lead Stark by the nose. Some even claim it is only the Republicans that are upset at Stark, completely ignoring Pelosi's words, Hoyer's words and the fact that other Democratic politicians are calling Stark to make him apologize.

The National Republican Campaign Committee issued a press release:

DEMOCRAT DISGRACE:
Pete Stark Drags SCHIP Political Circus to All-Time Low

Washington – Just moments ago, in an outrageous and delusional tantrum on the House floor, California Congressman Pete Stark trampled on the sacrifice of our troops fighting on the frontlines while simultaneously questioning the motivations of the Commander-in-Chief in wartime.

(For those getting this from the email subscription to Wake up America, the video shown above can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lTUB5_l0Mg )

Pete Stark and the Democrat leadership owe the American people an apology, the troops and their families an apology, and they should apologize to the millions of children being held political hostage by their party’s desperate attempt to score a political victory instead of providing healthcare for those who need it most.

While Pelosi and Hoyer are upset about Stark "distracting" from the SCHIP issue, Stark's insane cheer leading squad from the far left are encouraging him.

More proof that they party is not only divided but the fringes have the uncanny ability to work against the leadership of their own party, which is one reason they cannot seem to get anything done and are running at a 11% approval rating.

Can any one say.... self destruct mode?

[Update] Gateway Pundit shows that when the nutroots cannot win an argument, they simply lie about it.

Nutrooters Crooks and Liars discovers that if you can’t possibly win an argument over the latest disgusting anti-military, anti-Bush remarks by a Democratic politician…
Then just lie about it.

Cross posted @ Stop the ACLU


Tracked back by:
Pelosi's "Rebuke" of Stark--the Way The Left Fring from Miss Beth's Victory Dance...

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SCHIP is hitting the fan- Blogging the override vote: UPDATE- Veto UPHELD: Roll Call added

Link to Roll call is below. Veto has been upheld.

Reactions are coming in, they are below the original post.

I am starting out late here and have C Span on, watching each member get their say before the actual vote which the Democrats are coming up short on to override the president's veto.

Others are live blogging an did manage to start on time so you can catch up with what has been said over at Captain's Quarters and Michelle Malkin.

I just heard the Michigan Representative give the figures for his state and he pointed out how many adults were being covered right now as one of the problems with the bill, as is and as one of the problems that needed to be fixed, not expanded on.

Kenny Hulshof is now pointing out how states can bypass the eligibility for income in the SCHIP bill with state laws that allow higher income families to enroll.

Jeb Hensarling is point out that a bill for Children's Health Insurance Program has states with more adults in the program that children.

These are points that are being ignored by the supporters of the bill by saying "we have to cover children" hoping that mantra will make people ignore how many adults are being covered.

Gabrielle Gifford again is holding children up as her human shield instead of addressing the points that Hensarling and Hulshof made about the amounts of adults in the program meant for low income children.

Bluey Blog is pointing out that the Republicans are getting behind a SCHIP alternative based on a proposal offered by the Heritage Foundation.


Back to the remarks of the Congressmen and women prior to the actual vote.

Joe Barton just told then flat out that the president's veto will be sustained (so this is a complete waste of time and taxpayers money for nothing more than political "soundbites")

He also pointed out the targeted ads and the money spent on them to target Republicans and that it didn't work because the veto will be sustained!!

He is pointing out that the bill "says" no illegal aliens but they have provided no enforcement measures to see to it that illegal aliens are not covered under SCHIP.

One of the parts I missed, Malkin covered, which was Pete Stark:

Update 11:17am Eastern. Rep. Pete Stark starts blabbering about Republicans who don’t want to spend money on children, but instead want to spend it on “an illegal war” to be fought by children whom Republicans want to send to Iraq to “blow people up” and “get their heads blown up” for “his amusement.”

Stark: “Bush just likes to blow things up!!!”

Stark is reminded by his Democrat colleague “not to refer to the president in any personal way.” Fling those peas.

GOP Rep. Brady lambastes Rep. Stark. The man is a raving lunatic.

12:20 pm (Eastern) Stark just started again about Iraq, he was interrupted, and told to sit down...LOLOL

Now they are going over Starks words to determine of he violated house rules. He didn't.
12:35 pm- Boehner is speaking now.

Says he hopes that after the veto is upheld, everyone can work together to pass an acceptable SCHIP bill that the president can sign.

12:38-John Dingell once again claims the bill is fully paid for... they just cannot stop lying.

12:42- Now Pelosi is up their babbling. The women should be hiding in embarrassment after yesterdays whipping, but now she is trying to get people to change their minds and override the veto..... she already knows and has basically admitted, they don't have the votes so this is nothing more than a soundbite opportunity for her political games, which she IS good at.

Awwwww, she is calling herself the childrens Congress, ignoring how many adults are right now taking from the "children" and how her brilliant new bill expands that instead of fixing it.

Like the terrorist wannabe Nancy Pelosi is, she is once again trying to hide behind the children and use them as human shields.

My lord can they not address the issues of adults, aliens and higher income families that are being covered? They believe if they completely ignore those issues, everyone else will also.

From Captain Ed:

"This bill does not cover adults." Really? Why are over 70% of Michigan's S-CHIP recipients childless adults?

Finally coming to the end of this debate. John Boehner just finished by urging Congress to focus on poor children. Nancy Pelosi argues that we should follow every other industrialized nation in providing government coverage for all children -- once again revealing the real agenda behind this S-CHIP expansion.

Pelosi, still speaking, does a bait-and-switch. She says that the Republicans are wrong about the expansion covering people at 400% of the poverty level -- by showing current statistics of S-CHIP. This isn't about who's on now, it's about who gets put on after the expansion. Talk about intellectual dishonesty!

Exactly, despite denials to the contrary she just made it clear that is what this is all about..not lower income families and children, but socialism.

OMG, she actually tried the "morally right thing to do...this from a women WITH no morals...

12:56- 15 minute vote starting now.

7 minutes left and I see one Democratic nay up there!!! Boy is that Democrat going to catch hell if they don't change it. 86 nays as of now at 1:06 and we need 144 or more to sustain the President's veto.

98 nays at 1:07.

128 nays at 1:10.

1:14-154 nays as of now, which means VETO HAS BEEN UPHELD, although we are waiting for the final count. (2 Democratic nays)

Final Roll call (I will link to it when it becomes available) 273/156 is the final. They lacked the two third majority they needed to override the president's veto.

Final Roll call is up and found here.

Now maybe the idiots in the house can work together, fix the bill and get those low income children covered as it was originally intended to do.

The whining should start shortly.

It looks like Jim Marshall and Gene Taylor are the two Democrats that voted nay.

I will follow up here with reactions as they come out.

The. Whining. Begins. (Via technorati)

Despite false claims, Congress now has until mid november before the current bill expires to work WITH the White House now and get a bill written that will protect the low income children as it was meant to.

Macsmind "gets it" as does "It Should be Obvious".

More pathetic whining by those that avoid the actual facts of the matter.

More intellectual dishonesty. (Notice when reading those that not one of them are capable of addressing these six facts about SCHIP, so instead they hide behind the children as human shields)

Instead they try to distract with half truths, distort by ignoring the facts and keep repeating the mantra of "the children", because they are unable to dispute the statistical data I linked to above)

More from NYT, CNN, and Politico.

I have a couple more things to write about, so keep up with memeorandum for the latest reactions from both sides of the aisle.


(Corrections are being made along the way here because I am typing it as I hear it)
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Bush Slams Congress On Lack Of Appropriation Bills & SCHIP

From the President's press conference on Appropriation Bills:

Now, that's not what the leadership in the Congress wants me to do. They want the executive branch to accept an increase in spending over the next five years to $205 billion. Put that in perspective, that's $1,300 in new spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years. That's about $13,000 as long as it took me to say that -- (laughter) -- $205 billion of additional spending will mean they're going to have to raise taxes to pay for it. I think that would be bad for the economy. I don't think it makes sense to be taking money out of the pockets of the individuals in America, or money out of the pockets of small businesses -- particularly if we set priorities, we can fund that which we need to fund.

And so you're fixing to see what they call a fiscal showdown in Washington. One of the reasons why they --(applause) -- the Congress gets to propose, and if it doesn't meet needs, as far I'm concerned, I get to veto. And that's precisely what I intend to do. I wish Congress would get me some appropriations bills. (Applause.) I don't know if the people in Rogers understand our calendar, but the fiscal year ended on September the 30th. And yet I hadn't seen one appropriations bill. I think we're like 15 days into the fiscal year and not one appropriations bill has made it to my desk.

Congress needs to be responsible with your money, and they need to pass these appropriations bills, one at a time. And then we can work together to see whether or not they make fiscal sense for the United States. I don't think it makes sense, though, for a new Congress to come in and make promises about how they're going to be wise about what they're going to do with your money and get bills to my desk, and not be able to perform.

So I'm looking forward to getting back to Washington and remind people in the United States Congress that they said they were going to do a better job with getting these bills to my desk, and I'm going to remind them they hadn't got one yet. Not one bill has come out of United States Congress that appropriates your taxpayers' money.

Out of the 12 appropriations bills that are due, not one has reached his desk.

On the Armenian Genocide Bill from The Swamp:

“With all these pressing responsibilities, one thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire,’’ the president said of a resolution condemning the slaughter of Armenians nearly a century ago as genocide – a resolution in the House which has strained relations with Turkey. “Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing an important ally in the Muslim world.’’

From the press conference in the James S. Brady Briefing Room, regarding SCHIP:

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. We're now more than halfway through October, and the new leaders in Congress have had more than nine months to get things done for the American people. Unfortunately, they haven't managed to pass many important bills. Now the clock is winding down and in some key areas Congress is just getting started.

Congress has work to do on health care. Tomorrow Congress will hold a vote attempting to override my veto of the S-CHIP bill. It's unlikely that that override vote will succeed, which Congress knew when they sent me the bill. Now it's time to put politics aside and seek common ground to reauthorize this important program. I've asked Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, National Economic Council Director Al Hubbard, and OMB Director Jim Nussle to lead my administration's discussions with the Congress. I made clear that if putting poor children first requires more than the 20 percent increase in funding I proposed, we'll work with Congress to find the money we need. I'm confident we can work out our differences and reauthorize S-CHIP.

More on the SCHIP veto from the original press conference I first mentioned:

Recently, I did make a decision to veto a piece of legislation. I want to spend a little time talking about why. And then I'll be glad to answer some questions. There's a -- what's called S-CHIP -- it's a Children's Health Insurance Program -- made it to my desk and I vetoed it. And I'm going to tell you why -- (applause) -- I'm going to tell you why.

First of all, it's important for our citizens to understand that we spend $35 billion a year for poor children's health care, through Medicaid -- $35 billion. So if you hear rhetoric out of Washington saying we're not taking care of poor children in America, they're just not reminding you of the fact that because of your generosity, we're spending $35 billion a year.

Secondly, a program was created to help poorer children with struggling families; when I was the governor of Texas, I supported it. And as President, I support it. But the piece of legislation I got doesn't focus on the poorer children. Many Americans don't understand a half a million kids eligible for this program that aren't getting help under the program.

The bill sent to me didn't say, we're going to focus on those half-million that are eligible; the bill sent to me said, we can expand eligibility for the program up to $83,000. I want you to think about that. If you're making up to $83,000 in certain states you're eligible for the program. And yet half a million poorer children aren't being helped. My attitude is, let's help the poorer children. Let's make sure the program does what it's supposed to do.

Now, there's some in Washington, D.C. who genuinely believe that the best health care policy is to expand the role of the federal government. I don't subscribe to that. I think the best health care policy is to encourage private medicine, is to make sure the decisions are between doctors and patients. (Applause.) And yet, if you're saying you can make up to $83,000 and be a part of this program, it sounds like to me somebody wants to extend the reach of the federal government into medicine. That's what it sounds like to me.

Another factor that came into my thinking was not only a half a million children not being taken care of under the program, and not only is the eligibility requirements being expanded way beyond the scope of the program -- which sounds like there's a nationalization of medicine going on here -- but in six or seven states, more money is spent on adults than children. In other words, these states have taken that money and hadn't used it for its initial purpose. So I vetoed the bill. The House is going to decide whether or not they're going to sustain my veto, and if they choose to sustain my veto, I call upon the leadership in the Congress to come to the table and let us make sure we get money to those families that are -- that the program was intended to help, first and foremost. (Applause.)

Now,we have listed the links to the statistical data and the facts about this most recent badly written SCHIP bill, facts that the numbers and data back up and cannot be disputed. Facts that everybody that has been trying to get this version of the bill passed keeps avoiding and trying to distract from and at the same link (below) is the phone numbers of the members of Congress that need to be called today and tomorrow to tell them to uphold the presidents veto until the bill is written in a way to insure low income children instead of adults and people that can afford private insurance but chooses not to.

Facts and links about SCHIP and phone numbers can be found here.

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SCHIP- Two days to go. Have you made your phone calls yet?

[Update] 10/18/07- The President's Veto is upheld.

The facts are getting out. The data is there and it is public record and "some" people are doing their research instead of trying to distract and distort.

Have you made your phone calls to the Congressmen/women that voted no and that we need to vote to uphold the president's veto?

Here is a link to the six basic facts of the SCHIP bill that was just vetoed, as well as the phone numbers of the Congress people you need to call and tell them to uphold the presidents veto until the bill can be fixed instead of expanding on the problems that were found in the original bill.

The facts listed at the link above cannot be disputed. I have linked to all the sources for the data and research that shows that in some states, under the old SCHIP language, over 1/2 of the recipients were adults...not children. A good chunk of those adults were childless adults. Instead of fixing that problem about the old bill, our politicians expanded those problems without addressing them at all.

SCHIP stands for State Children's Health Insurance Program.

It is unacceptable that a program that is supposedly for children from low income families is having almost half (more than half in a couple of states) of its resources cover adults and children from families that can afford private healthcare.

It is also unacceptable that people that can afford private health insurance are taking from those that cannot afford health insurance because they choose to have us, the taxpayer, pay their way.

Despite the lefts false outrage, this never was about the Frost family and it isn't about the Wilkerson family either. The left threw those families out there to avoid the basic facts, because they could not dispute those facts.

The politicians want to hide behind these families, use them as a human shield, and hope that the data will not reach the American public. Data that proves that the money in the SCHIP program is going to adults and to people that can afford private insurance but chooses not to.

According to USA Today, Americans have more trust in Democrats on basic healthcare but the majority (52%) has done some research and are backing the President on this SCHIP issue, because they, unlike the Democrats and the left, believe a Children's Health Insurance Program should be for...well, the CHILDREN.

• 52% agree with Bush that most benefits should go to children in families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level — about $41,000 for a family of four. Only 40% say benefits should go to families earning up to $62,000, as the bill written by Democrats and some Republicans would allow.

• 55% are very or somewhat concerned that the program would create an incentive for families to drop private insurance. Bush and Republican opponents have called that a step toward government-run health care.

The left is all up in arms that an aide to Mitch McConnell alerted reporters to the questions bloggers had about who was being covered under SCHIP.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's spokesman acknowledged yesterday that he alerted reporters last week to questions bloggers raised about the financial circumstances of a 12-year-old boy Democrats had used to urge passage of an expanded children's health insurance program.

The outrage there is amazingly hypocritical because isn't it our representatives JOB to make sure we are informed?

I thank Mitch McConnell's aide very much.

I love seeing them froth at the mouth while getting outraged because our politicians are keeping us informed, they would much rather the argument be, "for the children or against the children" and have our Republican politicians do exactly what their Democratic politicians are trying to do, which is to hide the facts of the bill, hide the language which allows higher income families to take what rightfully is supposed to go to lower income families, to have adults using the money that is meant for children, just as SCHIP is named for (State Children's Health Insurance Program), and hide behind children.

So, if you are part of that 52% of America that wants this Children's Health Insurance Program to actually cover children, then here are the six basic facts and the phone numbers to start calling.

Call, go down the list, then call them again.

Be respectful, polite and firm... tell them they must UPHOLD the President's veto until the bill is fixed so that it covers those it is meant to cover.

More from Malkin, Captain's Quarters and Right Wing Nut House.

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Reposting Facts About SCHIP and Phone Numbers to Call

This is an important issue and we must call our Congressmen and women and make sure they understand we expect them to uphold the president's veto on Thursday, October 18, 2007, so please bear with me as I repost the relevant facts about SCHIP and the Phone numbers for you to call, relentlessly, to tell your representative to UPHOLD THE PRESIDENT'S VETO.

Original post:

I am going to list six of the facts about SCHIP, facts that the left doesn't want you to see, they would rather the focus be on anything but these facts.

SCHIP needs to address what was wrong with the bill to begin with, which is why underneath this post I will be listing all the phone numbers you need to be calling tomorrow (Monday) and every day until the 18th, when the vote to override the President's veto is held.

We need to call those numbers relentlessly, jam the lines, and let our representatives know that they need to uphold the President's veto until the bill is written in a way that fixes the problems in the original bill and not expand those problems.

Facts about SCHIP: Remember what SCHIP stands for as you read these facts. State Children's Heath Insurance Program.

FACT ONE:

From WSJ-

670,000 adults are covered by Schip. Eleven states cover some parents, and six states cover either pregnant adults or some adults with no children.

FACT TWO:

As this Kaiser 2006 survey of all the states details, in all but three states a family’s assets are not considered at all in determining eligibility for SCHIP. (As I pointed out here Maryland, home of the Frost’s, and California, my home, do not consider assets in qualification for SCHIP.) (Source- Democracy Project)

FACT THREE:

In 2006, 118,501 children and 101,919 adults in Michigan received health care from the S-CHIP program. Incredibly, this means that 46 percent of Michigan’s funding allotment intended to give poor children health insurance actually went to cover adults. (Source-Tim Walberg-congressman from Michigan’s Seventh District.)

FACT FOUR:

Higher income levels instead of low income families- New Jersey:

The Senate bill states: "(B) - Exception - Subparagraph (A) [the limitation of the matching rate to the Medicaid rate for children whose effective income exceeds 300 percent of the Federal poverty level] shall not apply to any State that, on the date of enactment of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, has an approved State Plan Amendment or waiver to provide, or has enacted a State law to submit a State plan amendment to provide, expenditures described in such subparagraph under the State child health plan." (Source- The SCHIP Bill)

The Senate SCHIP bill also grandfathers in New Jersey's program at 350 percent of the Federal poverty level, which includes children in families with incomes of $72,000 a year.

FACT FIVE: (Pointed out by Right Truth after going through the wording of the bill)

This bill would provide strong incentive for individuals and employers to dump private coverage and shift these costs to the taxpayers -- at an estimated cost of $74,000 per person annually. Here in Tennessee we watched a similar stampede to state-run coverage cripple the TennCare system. Another troubling component of the bill is the removal of the proof-of-citizenship requirements for enrollment. This provision, found in Section 211 (H.R. 976), is commonly referenced as the concerted effort to allow taxpayer subsidized healthcare to illegal immigrants.

FACT SIX: (Pointed out by Heading Right)

However, the Republicans haven’t given up. The GOP contingent on the House Energy And Commerce Committee have published some interesting data about the “children” — they’re awfully mature in many cases. Several states will spend more than 44% of their S-CHIP grants on adults in 2008, and that excludes pregnant women. In Michigan, that total goes to 71%. In most cases, the money gets spent on the parents more than the kids

Here are those states:

Illinois: 52.6% (51.2% parents)
Michigan: 71.6% (all childless adults)
Minnesota: 77.8% (all parents)
New Jersey: 54.6% (all parents)
New Mexico: 79% (26.7% parents, 52.3% childless adults)
Rhode Island: 52.4% (all parents)
Wisconsin: 43.9% (all parents)

The politicians and the left side of the blogosphere would love to keep focus of this issue on the Frost family, which proved FACT TWO, actually, the Democrats use of that family brought the problem of no "asset tests" to our attention, but the reason they would rather keep the focus on the family is so they can avoid the facts presented above.

Tomorrow, we must all call the numbers I am going to list here again, and continue to call them and tell our representatives to UPHOLD THE PRESIDENT'S VETO, until these issues are addressed and fixed within the bill so that SCHIP can do what it is intended to do and that is to cover low income children, not adults and not people that can afford private health insurance but choose not to.

The override vote is scheduled for October 18, so make sure your representatives know that we expect them to uphold the president's veto until the the language in this bill fixes it instead of expands on the problems listed above:

Make sure House Minority Leader John Boehner hears from you:

Washington Office:
1011 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3508
Phone: (202) 225-6205
Fax: (202) 225-0704

Here is a list of those who voted no before and who we need to vote again to UPHOLD the President's veto.


AL-Robert Aderholt:
(202) 225-4876

AR-John Boozman
(202) 225-4301

CA-Brian Bilbray
(202) 225-0508

CA-John Doolittle
(202) 225-2511

CO-Marilyn Musgrave
(202) 225-4676

FL-Gus Bilirakis
(202) 225-5755

FL-Ginny Brown-Waite
(202) 225-1022

FL-Tom Feeney
(202) 225-2706

FL-Rick Keller
(202) 225-2176

IA-Tom Latham
(202) 225-5476

ID-Bill Sali
(202) 225-6611

IL-Judy Biggert
(202) 225-3515

IL-Tim Johnson
(202) 225-2371

IL-Peter Roskam
(202) 225-4561

IL-Jerry Weller
(202) 225-3635

LA-Rodney Alexander
(202) 225-8490

MD-Roscoe Bartlett
(202) 225-2721

MI- Joseph Knollenberg
(202) 225-5802

MI-Thaddeus McCotter
(202) 225-8171

MI-Tim Walberg
(202) 225-6276

MN-Michelle Bachmann
(202) 225-2331

MO-Sam Graves
(202) 225-7041

MO-Kenny Hulshof
(202) 225-2956

NC-Robin Hayes
(202) 225-3715

NJ-Rodney Frelinghuysen
(202) 225-5034

NJ-Scott Garrett
(202) 225-4465

NJ-Jim Saxton
(202) 225-4765

NV-Dean Heller
(202) 225-6155

NY-Thomas Reynolds
(202) 225-5265

NY-Randy Kuhl
(202) 225-3161

OH-Steve Chabot
(202) 225-2216

OR-Greg Walden
(202) 225-6730

PA-John Peterson
(202) 225-5121

TX-Kay Granger
(202) 225-5071

VA-Thelma Drake
(202) 225-4215

VA-Randy Forbes
(202) 225-6365

Call them Monday, then every single day until the 18th and make sure your message is heard, loud and clear.

UPHOLD THE PRESIDENT'S VETO until this bill is fixed so that it covers low income children and not adults, and not families that can afford private healthcare but simply choose not to.

[Update] Still determined to use terrorist tactics of hiding behind children, the Democrats have chosen another child to hide behind.... this time using an example of a family that does belong on SCHIP, high lighting further the need to rewrite the bill to make sure that only families such as this latest human shield is eligible.


All previous posts about SCHIP, on one page, can be found here.

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Facts about SCHIP and what we need to do this week

[Update] 10/18/07- The President's Veto is upheld.

I am going to list the facts about SCHIP, facts that the left doesn't want you to see, they would rather the focus be on anything but these facts.

SCHIP needs to address what was wrong with the bill to begin with, which is why underneath this post I will be listing all the phone numbers you need to be calling tomorrow (Monday) and every day until the 18th, when the vote to override the President's veto is held.

We need to call those numbers relentlessly, jam the lines, and let our representatives know that they need to uphold the President's veto until the bill is written in a way that fixes the problems in the original bill and not expand those problems.

Facts about SCHIP: Remember what SCHIP stands for as you read these facts. State Children's Heath Insurance Program.

FACT ONE:

From WSJ-

670,000 adults are covered by Schip. Eleven states cover some parents, and six states cover either pregnant adults or some adults with no children.

FACT TWO:

As this Kaiser 2006 survey of all the states details, in all but three states a family’s assets are not considered at all in determining eligibility for SCHIP. (As I pointed out here Maryland, home of the Frost’s, and California, my home, do not consider assets in qualification for SCHIP.) (Source- Democracy Project)

FACT THREE:

In 2006, 118,501 children and 101,919 adults in Michigan received health care from the S-CHIP program. Incredibly, this means that 46 percent of Michigan’s funding allotment intended to give poor children health insurance actually went to cover adults. (Source-Tim Walberg-congressman from Michigan’s Seventh District.)

FACT FOUR:

Higher income levels instead of low income families- New Jersey:

The Senate bill states: "(B) - Exception - Subparagraph (A) [the limitation of the matching rate to the Medicaid rate for children whose effective income exceeds 300 percent of the Federal poverty level] shall not apply to any State that, on the date of enactment of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, has an approved State Plan Amendment or waiver to provide, or has enacted a State law to submit a State plan amendment to provide, expenditures described in such subparagraph under the State child health plan." (Source- The SCHIP Bill)

The Senate SCHIP bill also grandfathers in New Jersey's program at 350 percent of the Federal poverty level, which includes children in families with incomes of $72,000 a year.

FACT FIVE: (Pointed out by Right Truth after going through the wording of the bill)

This bill would provide strong incentive for individuals and employers to dump private coverage and shift these costs to the taxpayers -- at an estimated cost of $74,000 per person annually. Here in Tennessee we watched a similar stampede to state-run coverage cripple the TennCare system. Another troubling component of the bill is the removal of the proof-of-citizenship requirements for enrollment. This provision, found in Section 211 (H.R. 976), is commonly referenced as the concerted effort to allow taxpayer subsidized healthcare to illegal immigrants.

FACT SIX: (Pointed out by Heading Right)

However, the Republicans haven’t given up. The GOP contingent on the House Energy And Commerce Committee have published some interesting data about the “children” — they’re awfully mature in many cases. Several states will spend more than 44% of their S-CHIP grants on adults in 2008, and that excludes pregnant women. In Michigan, that total goes to 71%. In most cases, the money gets spent on the parents more than the kids

Here are those states:

Illinois: 52.6% (51.2% parents)
Michigan: 71.6% (all childless adults)
Minnesota: 77.8% (all parents)
New Jersey: 54.6% (all parents)
New Mexico: 79% (26.7% parents, 52.3% childless adults)
Rhode Island: 52.4% (all parents)
Wisconsin: 43.9% (all parents)

The politicians and the left side of the blogosphere would love to keep focus of this issue on the Frost family, which proved FACT TWO, actually, the Democrats use of that family brought the problem of no "asset tests" to our attention, but the reason they would rather keep the focus on the family is so they can avoid the facts presented above.

Tomorrow, we must all call the numbers I am going to list here again, and continue to call them and tell our representatives to UPHOLD THE PRESIDENT'S VETO, until these issues are addressed and fixed within the bill so that SCHIP can do what it is intended to do and that is to cover low income children, not adults and not people that can afford private health insurance but choose not to.

The override vote is scheduled for October 18, so make sure your representatives know that we expect them to uphold the president's veto until the the language in this bill fixes it instead of expands on the problems listed above:

Make sure House Minority Leader John Boehner hears from you:

Washington Office:
1011 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3508
Phone: (202) 225-6205
Fax: (202) 225-0704

Here is a list of those who voted no before and who we need to vote again to UPHOLD the President's veto.


AL-Robert Aderholt:
(202) 225-4876

AR-John Boozman
(202) 225-4301

CA-Brian Bilbray
(202) 225-0508

CA-John Doolittle
(202) 225-2511

CO-Marilyn Musgrave
(202) 225-4676

FL-Gus Bilirakis
(202) 225-5755

FL-Ginny Brown-Waite
(202) 225-1022

FL-Tom Feeney
(202) 225-2706

FL-Rick Keller
(202) 225-2176

IA-Tom Latham
(202) 225-5476

ID-Bill Sali
(202) 225-6611

IL-Judy Biggert
(202) 225-3515

IL-Tim Johnson
(202) 225-2371

IL-Peter Roskam
(202) 225-4561

IL-Jerry Weller
(202) 225-3635

LA-Rodney Alexander
(202) 225-8490

MD-Roscoe Bartlett
(202) 225-2721

MI- Joseph Knollenberg
(202) 225-5802

MI-Thaddeus McCotter
(202) 225-8171

MI-Tim Walberg
(202) 225-6276

MN-Michelle Bachmann
(202) 225-2331

MO-Sam Graves
(202) 225-7041

MO-Kenny Hulshof
(202) 225-2956

NC-Robin Hayes
(202) 225-3715

NJ-Rodney Frelinghuysen
(202) 225-5034

NJ-Scott Garrett
(202) 225-4465

NJ-Jim Saxton
(202) 225-4765

NV-Dean Heller
(202) 225-6155

NY-Thomas Reynolds
(202) 225-5265

NY-Randy Kuhl
(202) 225-3161

OH-Steve Chabot
(202) 225-2216

OR-Greg Walden
(202) 225-6730

PA-John Peterson
(202) 225-5121

TX-Kay Granger
(202) 225-5071

VA-Thelma Drake
(202) 225-4215

VA-Randy Forbes
(202) 225-6365

Call them Monday, then every single day until the 18th and make sure your message is heard, loud and clear.

UPHOLD THE PRESIDENT'S VETO until this bill is fixed so that it covers low income children and not adults, and not families that can afford private healthcare but simply choose not to.


All previous posts about SCHIP, on one page, can be found here.


.

John Cornyn Letter to Pelosi & Reid: Don't Use Children as Political Pawns

(Thanks to Bill for the email)

Cornyn Seeks Bipartisan Agreement on SCHIP Reauthorization / Sends Letter to Democratic Leaders

Sends Letter to Democratic Leaders Asking Them to Reconsider Shutdown of Negotiations.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

WASHINGTON—In a letter sent today to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, urged the two Democratic leaders to reconsider their decision to shutdown negotiations on reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He asked them to work with him and other Republicans to reach a bipartisan compromise that the President can sign into law immediately.

Noting that historically, SCHIP has been both a “bipartisan program” and a “bipartisan success,” Sen. Cornyn wrote, “every Member of Congress, regardless of party affiliation or political ideology, should be able to agree that providing health care for low-income children must be a top priority of this Congress.”

Sen. Cornyn also expressed his concern with recent news reports stating that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and liberal advocacy groups are targeting vulnerable Republicans with political attack ads during the two-week period that House Democrats have delayed scheduling a veto override vote that is widely expected to fail.

“I am troubled by the appearance that your refusal to negotiate is motivated more by partisan politics, with an eye toward next year’s election, instead of a sincere desire to reach a bipartisan compromise that will help America’s low-income children. I sincerely hope that is not the case.

“If you believe that covering low-income children in Texas and across the country, requires more than the 40 percent funding increase that Republicans have introduced, I am more than willing to work with you to find a reasonable, bipartisan solution. But, reauthorization of SCHIP is too important to be used as a political pawn for campaign purposes.

“I ask you to reconsider your decision to shutdown negotiations and urge you to work with Senators such as myself to reach a bipartisan SCHIP compromise that the President can sign into law immediately.”

To view a complete .pdf copy of Senator Cornyn’s letter to Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi, please click here.

Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee.

Numbers to call your representatives and let them know you expect them to uphold the president's Veto, can be found here.

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Phone Numbers to Tell Your Reps to Uphold The President's Veto on SCHIP

[Update] 10/18/07- The President's Veto is upheld.

[Update] Letter John Cornyn wrote Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi telling them to not use children as political pawns. (Link to the post where I have that letter here) [End Update]

Below you will find the numbers of those that voted NO originally so you can call them and make sure they will vote to uphold the President's veto.

Until the wording of the bill is changed to stop allowing people to by pass the eligibility requirements by "grandfathering" in state laws (that link is to Michelle Malkin's site) that allows families with the means to buy their own health insurance for their children to, instead, enroll them in a state funded program meant for low income children.... our Representatives must vote to uphold the president's veto.

Things that need to be addressed and fixed from the existing bill, instead of being expanded on include but are not limited to: (As we showed you yesterday)

Adults on SCHIP (State Childrens Health Insurance Program)

First example: Michigan, 2006: [Information from Tim Walberg, congressman from Michigan’s Seventh District]

The Democratic legislation takes a program originally meant for children of low-income families and expands it to cover some families earning up to $83,000 and illegal immigrants, while moving millions of children from private health insurance to government programs.

In 2006, 118,501 children and 101,919 adults in Michigan received health care from the S-CHIP program. Incredibly, this means that 46 percent of Michigan’s funding allotment intended to give poor children health insurance actually went to cover adults.

The Wall Street Journal further described this problem in its August 9 editorial: “The bill goes so far as to offer increasing ‘bonus payments’ to states as they enroll more people in their SCHIP programs. To grease the way, the bill re-labels children’ as anyone under 25, and ‘low income’ as up to… $82,600 for a family of four.”

It is unfathomable to think that Democrats want to expand a program that currently does not meet the full objective of covering poor children, and expand it to try to insure single adults. I’m not sure what part of “children’s health care” liberals in Congress do not understand.

Heading Right points us to data from the House Energy And Commerce Committee:

However, the Republicans haven’t given up. The GOP contingent on the House Energy And Commerce Committee have published some interesting data about the “children” — they’re awfully mature in many cases. Several states will spend more than 44% of their S-CHIP grants on adults in 2008, and that excludes pregnant women. In Michigan, that total goes to 71%. In most cases, the money gets spent on the parents more than the kids

Here are those states:

Illinois: 52.6% (51.2% parents)
Michigan: 71.6% (all childless adults)
Minnesota: 77.8% (all parents)
New Jersey: 54.6% (all parents)
New Mexico: 79% (26.7% parents, 52.3% childless adults)
Rhode Island: 52.4% (all parents)
Wisconsin: 43.9% (all parents)

We don’t hear much about subsidizing parents in the current debate, but it appears that a substantial portion of S-CHIP goes to that function. In fact, how can Minnesota spend more than three-quarters of S-CHIP on parents?

Remember the name that SCHIP represents again?

State Childrens Health Insurance Program.

Next point that needs to be addressed, is the way the bill is written to allow the "grandfathering" in of state law to bypass the SCHIP bill's eligibility figures.

One example- New Jersey:

The Senate bill states: "(B) - Exception - Subparagraph (A) [the limitation of the matching rate to the Medicaid rate for children whose effective income exceeds 300 percent of the Federal poverty level] shall not apply to any State that, on the date of enactment of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, has an approved State Plan Amendment or waiver to provide, or has enacted a State law to submit a State plan amendment to provide, expenditures described in such subparagraph under the State child health plan."

The Senate SCHIP bill also grandfathers in New Jersey's program at 350 percent of the Federal poverty level, which includes children in families with incomes of $72,000 a year.

These are just two of the many examples of how this bill that the President just vetoed has neglected to address the points in the previous bill that have allowed higher income families and adults, in some states almost HALF the recipients of the SCHIP funding has gone to those adults, to use this program that is meant for low income children.

The override vote is scheduled for October 18, so make sure your representatives know that we expect them to uphold the president's veto until the the language in this bill fixes it instead of expands on the problems listed above:

Make sure House Minority Leader John Boehner hears from you:

Washington Office:
1011 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3508
Phone: (202) 225-6205
Fax: (202) 225-0704

Here is a list of those who voted no before and who we need to vote again to UPHOLD the President's veto.


AL-Robert Aderholt:
(202) 225-4876

AR-John Boozman
(202) 225-4301

CA-Brian Bilbray
(202) 225-0508

CA-John Doolittle
(202) 225-2511

CO-Marilyn Musgrave
(202) 225-4676

FL-Gus Bilirakis
(202) 225-5755

FL-Ginny Brown-Waite
(202) 225-1022

FL-Tom Feeney
(202) 225-2706

FL-Rick Keller
(202) 225-2176

IA-Tom Latham
(202) 225-5476

ID-Bill Sali
(202) 225-6611

IL-Judy Biggert
(202) 225-3515

IL-Tim Johnson
(202) 225-2371

IL-Peter Roskam
(202) 225-4561

IL-Jerry Weller
(202) 225-3635

LA-Rodney Alexander
(202) 225-8490

MD-Roscoe Bartlett
(202) 225-2721

MI- Joseph Knollenberg
(202) 225-5802

MI-Thaddeus McCotter
(202) 225-8171

MI-Tim Walberg
(202) 225-6276

MN-Michelle Bachmann
(202) 225-2331

MO-Sam Graves
(202) 225-7041

MO-Kenny Hulshof
(202) 225-2956

NC-Robin Hayes
(202) 225-3715

NJ-Rodney Frelinghuysen
(202) 225-5034

NJ-Scott Garrett
(202) 225-4465

NJ-Jim Saxton
(202) 225-4765

NV-Dean Heller
(202) 225-6155

NY-Thomas Reynolds
(202) 225-5265

NY-Randy Kuhl
(202) 225-3161

OH-Steve Chabot
(202) 225-2216

OR-Greg Walden
(202) 225-6730

PA-John Peterson
(202) 225-5121

TX-Kay Granger
(202) 225-5071

VA-Thelma Drake
(202) 225-4215

VA-Randy Forbes
(202) 225-6365

Call them today, then Monday, then every single day until the 18th and make sure your message is heard, loud and clear.

UPHOLD THE PRESIDENT'S VETO until this bill is fixed so that it covers low income children and not adults, and not families that can afford private healthcare but simply choose not to.

Still here?

What are you waiting for.....GO. Make the calls.


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