Much-deserved outrage has met George W. Bush's "heartless" veto of House Resolution 976, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.
The veto is a powerful attempt by the president to squash a popular bipartisan initiative, in which the government would subsidize health care for children in families of four or more that have an annual household income of $62,000 or less. These millions of families in America are making too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to be able to afford expensive private insurance. Bush sees it as a step towards evil "socialized medicine."
The bill to expand SCHIP (State Child Health Insurance Plan) would cost an additional $35 billion over five years. To say that the Bush administration has spent with abandon would be a titanic understatement (We're $3 trillion in debt), yet now they claim that $35 billion for kids' health care is too pricey. Democrat Rahm Emanuel calculates that $12.2 billion (roughly the cost of 41 days of the U.S. military presence in Iraq) could insure 10 million American children.
Any of Bush's claims to be "fiscally conservative" or "compassionately conservative" have long been smashed to dust. "Just don't get sick, kids," Bush may as well have said at his Lancaster, Pennsylvania announcement of the veto. "Ignore your asthma, too. If things get really bad, just wait it out in the emergency room. If your family is squeezed to afford market-priced private insurance, you're just not living within your means. It's your fault, not mine!"
It may also be worth noting that all 159 representatives--except the Diaz-Balart brothers of Florida-- who voted against expanding SCHIP (which covers millions of minority children) are white.
This anti-child health insurance position is a loser, morally and politically, for Bush and his followers. New York, California, New Jersey, and several other states are suing the Bush administration over blocking SCHIP. The Senate already has enough support for a two-thirds override of the presidential veto.
The House, however, is about 15 votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority. America's struggling children desperately need fifteen members of the House of Representatives to change their minds on this issue over the next two weeks.
Who actually might switch their vote? I've done some checking, and below are eight Democrats and thirty-eight Republicans who have proven themselves not to be straight-down-the-line partisan hacks.
Their names are listed here because they voted AGAINST the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. However, they voted FOR H.R. 2, which will raise the minimum wage over a two-year period.
If there is an exclamation point (!) next to their name, that representative also voted FOR H.R. 1, a vote to implement many of the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Republicans who voted yea on these bills broke ranks with the G.O.P. majority. Their votes to raise minimum wage could indicate empathy for low-income American families. Perhaps their minds can be changed on helping those minimum and near-minimum wage families get health care.
It takes just a few minutes to Google any of them and let them know how you feel about their votes against child health care. They still have an opportunity to change their minds and override Bush's veto. The people on this list are the ones with the power either to turn their backs, or to offer health care to 10 million American children. There is no longer any middle ground.
Democrats
Dan Boren (!)
Kathy Castor (!)
Bob Etheridge (!)
Baron Hill (!)
Dennis Kucinich (!)
Jim Marshall (!)
Mike McIntyre (!)
Gene Taylor (!)
Republicans
Robert Aderholt
Rodney Alexander (!)
Spencer Bachus
Judith Biggert
Gus Bilirakis (!)
Jo Bonner
John Boozman
Ginny Brown-Waite (!)
Ander Crenshaw
Geoff Davis
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (!)
Mario Diaz-Balart (!)
John 'Jimmy' Duncan
Randy Forbes
Rodney Frelinghuysen (!)
Virgil Goode
Bob Goodlatte
Robin Hayes (!)
Kenny Hulshof (!)
Tim Johnson (!)
Walter Jones (!)
Ric Keller (!)
Randy Kuhl (!)
Kenny Marchant
Thad McCotter (!)
John Peterson
Mike Rogers (!)
Hal Rogers
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (!)
Jim Saxton
Jean Schmidt (!)
John Shimkus (!)
Lamar Smith (!)
Cliff Stearns
Greg Walden (!)
Zachary Wamp
Jerry Weller (!)
Ed Whitfield