This is utterly disgraceful:
President Bush this morning vetoed a bill that would would renew and expand the state-federal health insurance program for low-income children, delivering on his threat to block a measure he has said is too costly and could lead to excessive government control of the health care system.
Right, while he spends $1 TRILLION on Iraq, he can't spare $35 billion over the next five years to keep children healthy in this country. I'm livid, and we all should be. As far as I'm concerned, any congresscritter -- Republican OR Democrat -- who votes to sustain this veto should be picketed at every appearance by mothers and their children. Opposing SCHIP is against children and it's against families. I expect to hear the Family Foundation and other Republican front organizations denounce Bush's veto right immediately. Oh wait, I forgot, gays are MUCH more of a threat to families than inadequate or unavailable childrens' health care. Uh huh.
All I can say is that the European countries must be laughing at us (and I do me us, since as a whole we would rather put war ahead of our own welfare, and the welfare of our future). We have no shame.
Besides, poor children who are healthy aren't sick and thus don't need to visit a doctor, so they don't need insurance. QED, he only hates POOR CHILDREN WITH HEALTH PROBLEMS. He can tolerate poor healthy children just fine.
Go to MoveOn.Org's link http://pol.moveon.or... and sign up. And bring others with you.
"The President's priorities are clear. When faced with a choice between providing health care for low income American children and funding a war in a foreign land, he has put war first."SCHIP is a bipartisan, popular program that gives children from low income families an opportunity to lead a happy, healthy and productive life. Instead of providing for our future generations, the President's veto threatens to strip health insurance for six million American children - 211,000 living in the Commonwealth.
"For $3.50 a day, we can ensure a child has access to a primary care physician. Contrast that with the cost to taxpayers of an emergency room visit for an indigent child and the cost effectiveness of SCHIP becomes clear.
"This veto brings into sharp contrast President Bush's misguided priorities. His willingness to sacrifice our domestic programs in favor of an ill-fated mission to bring democracy at the barrel of a gun does not have the support of the public and threatens to shortchange the most vulnerable in our population - our children."
Including: "Of course, Rubber Stamp Republicans Thelma Drake and Eric Cantor, want their vote against protecting children's health to stay out of the spotlight. Tom Davis and Frank Wolf who are facing tough Democratic challenges next year are taking no chances and voted yes."