Redstate

Posted at 2:30am on Feb. 7, 2008 A quick note on health care and the Bush budget

By Jeff Emanuel

In his budget for Fiscal Year 2009, though at $3.1 trillion still far too large, President Bush made several steps in the right (government-limiting) direction. Overall, is this effort “too little, too late” for the nearly-lame-duck President?

Perhaps. There is still reason to be encouraged, though.

Read on.

Posted in FY2009 | Government-run health care | Health care | Policy | President Bush | SCHIP — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:26am on Dec. 26, 2007 Catching up, Part 1.

Pneumonia is not fun.

By Moe Lane

Especially when you're traveling. Thankfully, I have drugs now.

Anyway, our own Jeff Emanuel has a little article up on SCHIP:

SCHIP Expansion: Congressional Majority Surrenders Completely
by Jeff Emanuel

Congressional Democrats’ cave-in on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) last week was of a Utah mine disaster magnitude. Instead of creating a middle-class entitlement program -- and using it as a vehicle for Sen. Durbin’s illegal alien amnesty “DREAM Act” -- Democrats settled for extending the current SCHIP program until March 31, 2009.

March 31, 2009. March 31, 2009.

(pause)

Well, I suppose that the country could ratify and pass a repeal to the 20th Amendment in the next year, but it'd take some doing, and why we would bother is beyond me completely. I mean, I can understand why Congressional Democrats would be so eager to make sure that they've comprehensively passed the buck, but this is a bit much, no*?

Read on.

Posted in 200*9*? | Congress | Did You Save Your Receipt? | Great Netroot Betrayal | SCHIP — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:18am on Dec. 24, 2007 It's generally better to pay attention to Congressional politics and to read legislation before editorializing on them

By Jeff Emanuel

Yesterday, the Montgomery (Alabama) Advisor Advertiser newspaper ran an editorial in which the writers referred to President Bush’s December veto of a massive expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) as putting him on par with "Scrooge" and "the Grinch." Unfortunately, the authors badly missed the mark on several counts.

Read on.

Posted in Health care | Media | Policy | SCHIP — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:47pm on Dec. 12, 2007 "How many children will be dead" if Democrats don't stop using S-CHIP as a political football?

Quoth the paraphrased Lloyd Doggett

By Jeff Emanuel

We all remember the rhetoric surrounding President Bush's first veto of the Democrats' bloated S-CHIP bill this fall.

"[H]ow many children will be dead" if this measure doesn't pass? asked Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett on the floor of the House. "President Bush used his cruel veto pen to say 'I forbid 10 million children from getting the health benefits they deserve'," said America's Mother-in-Law, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Republican votes against SCHIP expansion and the President's veto showed "a stunning lack of compassion for some of the most vulnerable members of our society."

And, of course, the venerable Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)said on the floor of the House that "the Axis of Evil isn't just in the Middle East, it's just down here on Pennsylvania Avenue" and that the President wanted to save the money being spent on SCHIP in order "to spend it to blow up innocent people." He also added his opinion (immediately praised by bloggers at DailyKos) that President Bush was sending American boys "to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement."

It sounds like this legislation -- and the massive expansion of children's health care (well, children 25 and under) that it authorizes -- is pretty important to the Democrats, doesn't it?

Or not. In reality, the Democrats are simply fighting for the ability to keep doing what they've been doing this whole time: using the idea of "better health care for the kids" as a political football -- something that was reinforced in spades today.

You see, Congress -- only minutes ago -- received the President's latest SCHIP veto. Under House rules, the Democrat leadership now has two options, and must act on one or the other immediately. First, they can vote now to over-ride/sustain the President's veto; second, they can postpone that vote until a date certain.

Pelosi and Hoyer have chosen the latter, and the decision is now being debated on the House floor. The date they have chosen for this attempt at a veto override that will immediately save the lives of countless thousands of children? January 23, 2008 -- over a month from today (and, not coincidentally, only days before the President's State of the Union address).

Read on.

Posted in Democrats | Health care | Playing Politics | SCHIP — Comments (47)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:13pm on Oct. 29, 2007 How Much Do You Care About Kids?

22 Million New Smokers Needed to Fund SCHIP

By Bluey

Ten days after making a splash with a clever commercial attacking the Democrats' plan to fund SCHIP with a tobacco tax, the mysterious nicolai1951 is back with a second video. This one is even funnier than the first.

Meanwhile, it appears Republicans haven't given up hope that a deal on SCHIP is still possible. The question remains whether Democrats are willing to come to the table to talk.

Posted in Congress | Congress | Health care | SCHIP — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:14pm on Oct. 25, 2007 Democrats fail to persuade Republicans in new SCHIP vote.

By paulseale

Promoted from the diaries by Neil. Sometimes bad deeds get punished.

Maybe it was the less than 24 hours given to Republicans to look over the bill.

Maybe it was the announcing and voting of the bill at a time when over a dozen Republican law makers left Washington to tend to their home districts.

Maybe it was because Democrats refused to allow ammendments to or even consult their counter parts from across the aisle on exactly what compromises needed to be made for the bill's passage.

Or maybe it was because the bill only made superficial changes which did not seek to put poor children first while still enrolling massive ammounts of adults and illegal aliens.

What ever the case was, while the new SCHIP program passed Congress, it did not garner enough yes votes to become veto proof. In fact one Republican Vern Ehlers (R-Michigan) who voted for the bill the first time voted against this proposal.

Read On...

Posted in Congress | Democrats | SCHIP | Veto — Comments (24) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:46pm on Oct. 25, 2007 Bush Promises to Veto New SCHIP Bill

Will House Republicans remain united?

By Bluey

Democrats are trying to sway Republicans with their new SCHIP bill, but one of them won't be President Bush. The White House today released a veto threat for the Democrats' bill. Without "significant changes," Bush said he would reject the new version, which still expands SCHIP by $35 billion and includes small tweaks in hopes of picking off a handful of Republicans in the House.

H.R. 3963 continues to allow states to expand coverage without assuring that poor children have coverage first; continues to provide coverage for some adults through 2012; continues to allow the use of income disregards to increase eligibility levels; continues to move children from private health insurance to government programs; provides insufficient safeguards to assure that funds will not be spent on ineligible individuals; and, remarkably, actually costs more than the earlier bill, not withstanding supposed improvements in policy. Because H.R. 3963 has not addressed in a meaningful way the objections that caused the President to veto H.R. 976, the President will veto this legislation if it is presented to him without significant changes.

House Republicans are currently in a midst of using procedural tactics to delay a vote on the SCHIP bill today. They are displeased that Democrats are moving forward on a day when nearly a dozen Republicans have headed home to California to assess the damage caused by wildfires.

Posted in Congress | Health care | SCHIP — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:32pm on Oct. 25, 2007 Let's Work The Phones on SCHIP

By Erick

Democrats need only a handful of members to switch their vote on SCHIP today to ensure a veto-proof bill. Several Republicans who voted "no" last week need to hear from us. Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to stand firm.

Judy Biggert (IL)
Charles Boustany (LA)
Ginny Brown-Waite (FL)
Ken Calvert (CA)
Ander Crenshaw (FL)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ)
Elton Gallegly (CA)
Bob Inglis (SC)
Tim Johnson (IL)
John Peterson (PA)
Mike Rogers (MI)
Bill Shuster (PA)
Greg Walden (OR)

Posted in Congress | SCHIP — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:49am on Oct. 25, 2007 Five Reasons Why the SCHIP Bill Still Sets Bad Policy

A rush to misjudgment

By Bluey

Democrats are moving swiftly to pass a new SCHIP bill today in hopes of swaying enough Republicans to ensure a veto-proof margin in the House. As Erick noted earlier, the maneuver comes as nearly a dozen Republicans have headed home to California to survey the damage caused by wildfires this week.

The Democrats’ quick response after a losing a vote last week to override President Bush’s veto signals their belief that enough Republicans might swallow the minor changes to the $35-billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

In reality, however, the new SCHIP bill actually differs little from the version that Bush vetoed. Democrats have made small tweaks, but the bill itself still costs the same and relies on a tobacco tax to fund the expansion. Among the other problem that still remain:

1) It still raises the general federal income eligibility for SCHIP to 300% of the federal poverty level (an increase from the current 200 % level).

2) It still covers adults, just in new ways either directly through Medicaid or through a new funding mechanism (that is more generous than Medicaid).

3) It still crowds-out private coverage. New Congressional Budget Office estimates show that more than 2 million kids would move from private coverage to government coverage.

4) It still expands the program to “new” populations. New CBO estimates show 1.1 million would be newly eligible.

5) It still waters down citizenship verification requirements made in the Deficit Reduction Act.

Posted in Congress | Congress | Health care | SCHIP — Comments (24)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:04am on Oct. 25, 2007 Pelosi Using California Disaster for House Maneuvering

By Erick

Southern California's various congressmen have gone home because of the fires. Most of these congressmen are Republicans who voted against SCHIP.

Seizing on the disaster in California and the absence of these congressmen, Nancy Pelosi is going to schedule another vote on SCHIP.

Look for House Republicans to fight all day on the floor to grind everything down to a halt.

They are angry, angry that Pelosi would take the opportunity of this disaster to schedule a do-over.

Posted in Congress | SCHIP — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »