schip

[edteach]

I can not believe any republican voted against a bill for childrens health care. In an election year.
And at the same time shrub asks for more billions for a war gone bad.

[JoeEllison]

I can not believe any republican voted against a bill for childrens health care. In an election year.
And at the same time shrub asks for more billions for a war gone bad.

They have to. It is a hugely successful program that helps working-class families, and it has bipartisan support. Therefore, the right-wing must crush it. Otherwise, when people see how well an expanded version works, they might start to wonder why, if it works so well, it isn't expanded to cover everyone.

[Ziggurat]

Umm... republican objections were to the expansion of the plan contained within that legislation. It would not have met with a veto (and probably a lot fewer no votes) had it been merely a continuation of the existing program. Whatever your opinion about whether the plan should be expanded or not, the characterization of the republican position here is, well, wrong.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I have to admit, it was hilariously good advertising for the Democrats.

The message from the media didn't really focus on the fact that it was the expansion well into the middle class the Republicans were against.

[The Painter]

and it has bipartisan support. Therefore, the right-wing must crush it.

No, no, no. You're not going to get away with that. You have to explain that. If it has bipartisan support,..... that's right-wing too.
You drink too much Kool Aid

[corplinx]

Im not sure it will make an impact. People are worried about fuel costs, a housing slump, Iraq, and other factors.

[Beerina]

The claim that it is an expansion, with the ultimate intent to draw more and more people into dependence on the government, for the purpose of creating another solid block of large-government voters is not an illegitimate concern.

"For the children!" battlecry normally scares people, especially with respect to censorship, and rightly so. But if it's for something people want to happen anyway, ignore it, if not use it to your advantage.

How do I get off this *********** planet? :mad:

[Upchurch]

The claim that it is an expansion, with the ultimate intent to draw more and more people into dependence on the government, for the purpose of creating another solid block of large-government voters is not an illegitimate concern.
It is not an illegitimate concern, but it is a trivial one. The 2007 bill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCHIP#HR_976) would have expanded the program by 4 million participants. Given the roughly 300 million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States) people in the US in 2006, this bill would have only put an additional 1.3% of the US population on increased dependence of the government.

Cliche though it may be, we are talking about children. They are already dependents on the government for things like education. As a country, it is in our best interest to work towards producing healthy, well-education citizens. The economic benefits of preventative care in this expansion far outweighs the cost, imho.

eta: Heck, given our population growth, 4 million may not even be keeping up with inflation.

[ZenFountain]

SCHIP is a great and much needed program that saves taxpayers money in the end, but I do have to question whether the expansion was legitimately needed or a Democratic tactic to make a splash headlines about Bush hating children. All things considered, the Republicans and Bush deserve it though for six years of rubber stamping disaster and gross mismanagement.

[JoeEllison]

SCHIP is a great and much needed program that saves taxpayers money in the end, but I do have to question whether the expansion was legitimately needed or a Democratic tactic to make a splash headlines about Bush hating children. All things considered, the Republicans and Bush deserve it though for six years of rubber stamping disaster and gross mismanagement.

As long as there are millions of children without insurance, there is absolutely a need for the expansion of this program.

[Upchurch]

eta: Heck, given our population growth, 4 million may not even be keeping up with inflation.
According to this (http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/population_growth_rate.html), the population growth rate is only 0.894%, but that includes migration. I'm not sure this is a meaningful comparison.

I've been trying to find if there is a statistic for the growth rate of minors in the US as late as 2006, but I never have much luck at this kind of search.