Buried at the end of today's WaPo article, GOP Senator Says Bush Should Put Health Bill Before Policy Goal, we find some startling information. Even the insurance industry wants SCHIP passed--and signed by the president:
The White House is looking increasingly isolated on the issue. America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest insurance lobbying group, endorsed the measure yesterday, undercutting Bush's contention that the bill is a step away from private insurance and toward government-run health care.
"It repairs the safety net and is a major movement toward addressing the problems that states and governors have been trying to address, which is how to get access for children," said Karen Ignagni, the group's president.
We hear a lot of nattering by hardcore conservatives who repeat the President's stale crusts of talking points. However,even Republicans are saying, "Enough already." Iowa Senator Grassley has called Bush's stuff on the threatened veto by pointing out his agenda:
A senior Senate Republican accused President Bush yesterday of holding a bipartisan expansion of the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program hostage to his broader policy goals of using tax deductions to help people afford private health insurance coverage. With a five-year, $35 billion expansion of the children's health insurance program due for a final vote in the House today,Sen Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and White House aides agreed that Bush's opposition to the legislation stems not from its price tag but from far larger health policy issues. The White House wants to use the issue of uninsured children to resurrect the president's long-dormant proposals to change the federal tax code to help the uninsured, adults and children alike, Grassley said, calling that a laudable goal but unrealistic politically.
Bush is willing to sacrifice the chance to secure health care access for American children in exchange for loyalty to an agenda. What does Grassley think of that:
Asked if Bush was holding the children's health bill hostage, Grassley said, "Yes."
What's the President's agenda?
The White House has argued that more people would benefit by creating new tax deductions to help families, including the uninsured, purchase private insurance coverage -- an idea that is decidedly unpopular among Democrats who control Congress.
Walz has supported the expansion of SCHIP. This version is different from the one that prompted attack ads from special interests and national Republicans, and it shouldn't be partisan fodder.
There comes a time--as in making sure that kids have access to health care--that the question isn't an ideological choice of big or small government, but the practical consideration of responsible government. Let's hope that enough House republicans see Grassley's logic and support the responsible choice.
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