Democrats Face First Immigration Test
After benefiting enormously from the Latino backlash against GOP anti-immigrant race baiting Democratic legislators will have their first reality test, albeit a modest one, on this hot button issue.
This week SCHIP will hit the floor of the House of Representatives and head for the US Senate. SCHIP provides health insurance funding for children from moderate to low income families. The much lauded children's health care insurance program was derided in 2007 as a budget busting big government program. The derision occurred while we were spending $10 billion a month in Iraq and before we bought $1 trillion of bad bank stock. Current spending environments being what they are no one legislator may be able to kill the bill on the cost alone. Lets face it these days 35 billion additional bucks looks like the budget for a tax payer funded, AIG lead, training seminar at an all inclusive day spa with bottomless Champaign service .
But what some politicos will focus on is a provision that will allow DOCUMENTED immigrant children to benefit from SCHIP. Children who are fully documented residents can receive SCHIP benefits now if they have been in the country for five years. The new SCHIP provisions will merely remove the five year waiting period. But that one act of sensibility is sure to give Lou Dobbs a lead for at least three or four episodes of his ratings grabbing, GOP killing, television show.
While it looks like the House will pass the bill as written easily the Senate may be a different story. Beltway insiders tell me that Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is ready to complain about the immigrant provision and fight the bill if it somehow remains intact. This is where the test for Democrats is born.
Democrats owe much of their success in the last two election cycles to strong Latino voter turnout. Any distancing of legally immigrated children is sure to have a huge impact on the faith of Latinos that voted and volunteered for change. Additionally the scapegoating of these minors will embolden anti-immigrant forces that hunger for a victory and whose real ambition is to destroy immigration reform and continue mass deportations.
Every expert understands that containing emergency room costs is a key to any attempt at health care reform. The SCHIP provision brings more children into a system where costs can be contained and future long term heath care issues can be ameliorated. In short the SCHIP provision to include as many currently uninsured children and children about to lose their healthcare coverage is a smart investment.
Senator Baucus needs to step lightly and his Democratic colleagues need to step away from him. If the future of these children or the overall savings of the program are not a big enough motivator there are others. Democratic leaders may ponder the impact of a low Latino turnout in the 2010 off year election and a potential opening for moderate Republicans into Latino family households. If the moral and fiscal imperatives of making SCHIP more inclusive are not strong enough the political reality should be.
Mario Solis-Marich is a progressive talk show host. Mario can be heard on am760 in Denver, on Iheart Radio, and at www.GoToMario.com.
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Wonderful Article, specially the Caution and Warning against losing Latino Votes !
"Pandora's Box" and the "Insurance Policy" of Mr Obama" :
Is Immigration the "Pandora's Box" that Obama and the Democratic Party should not try to open ????
Pandora's big jar ( it is not a box in Ancient Greek Language ) represents the female womb in Psychoanalytical Sexual Psychology. That the jar releases a myriad evils is our cultural unease with friendly female sexuality and the sexual pleasure felt by Women.
Perhaps opening the "Pandora's Box is our cultural unease with ....... ( blah blah ... .Latinos .... blah blah ).
Sometimes the best option is to do nothing and to stay in First Base without trying to steal the second base. Because a good pitcher has eyes at the end of his back ...
I pray that Mr Obama, Michelle and Sasha and Malia do not open dangerous boxes in the White House, and I suggest that they play basketball instead of baseball.
http://mil
http://pro
Vicente Duque
The Immigration issue is a necessary hypocrisy. Having looked at the issue from both sides of the table, i can say that there is never going to be an easy solution to it. It is never gonna happen that everybody is gonna turn into Gandhis and give away the "use" of their country to outsiders; it is also true that in the ultimate scheme of things, everyone did come from outside, but those who came late, and came in smaller numbers, are the "outsiders" or "foreigners", or as they say in the US, "aliens."
There is never going to be a total solution to this. But since it is mostly about money, when money is good, people will not worry too much about mexicans coming and ruining US job markets. Only when the economy suffers (for other reasons) will foreigners be blamed for it. And for good measure, they will be blamed for everything else that is wrong.
The way out - be a man and take it, and if you can and want to, give it back. This is advice for the foreigners.
For the natives - tough. But you cannot stop them, so as well use them at lower prices and forget about it.
Saswata De
Ex-UWM Philosophy Department
Indian
We may not be able to stop them but we can limit them to a managible level.
Quite honestly, we've become barbarians. I'm reading post after post where people are saying, "It's the illegals who are breaking us!" Not so. It's the health insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical companies that are robbing you, not the half-starved, do any kind of honest work immigrants who make up the vast majority of the people you are complaining about. I think you folks need to get out more. Go to California. We've got more illegal immigrants that anyone, and aside from the totally insane cost of living here, and our embarrassing governator, it's a great state.
Amnesty is inevitable for people with roots. But Mario, I'm sorry to tell you that open borders is a dead issue.
It's just common sense. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy and yet I am still listening to debates over illegal immigration. Bottom line, we cannot afford to encourage another 30 million illegals to come stomping into our country demanding more social services. No matter how great a country we think we have, we are still limited to what we can provide. It is better for 300 million of us to live comfortably than to have 1 billion of us living miserably in filth and hunger. It is very idealistic to want to feed the world, but it is not reality. Many of you are sitting there drinking your lattes comfortably in your warm homes with a fridge full of food and reading this on a $1,000 computer. But you are selfishly willing to give away everything that your children and grandchildren would otherwise inherit. Nothing is infinite. Everything has limitations. No nation in the history of Earth has excepted so many people ethnically/ racially different from themselves and survived. That is not racist, that is an historical fact. Entire peoples have been absorbed and dissappeared along with their cuture and history. The Tibetens are one people on the verge. We cannot afford to take in anymore refugees from the third world without becoming thirdworlders ourselves. If we want to help someone who's poor, we should try putting something away for our future starving descendants.
Michael, you're barking up the wrong tree. Every dollar you spend on your health - and you spend a lot of them - is sent through a huge bureaucratic flim-flam machine called the health insurance industry. Much of your dollar is lost in that useless, inefficient machine. The entire health insurance industry has become a giant money skimming machine. Those who use that machine often live MUCH better than the doctors and nurses who do the actual care. Don't even get me into the pharmaceutical industry - just ask yourself how many different kinds of pills you have around the house. Most of these immigrants live in the west, and we in the west know we weren't always the US. We were once Mexico, in case you didn't know.
The truth is, it's crazy to deny health care to anyone, anywhere, for any reason. A lot of "uninformed" (I'm being kind) Americans don't realize that.
It is certainly not right to deny a person who is in need regardless ot status. On the other hand it is impossible to offer it without condition to people who are coming here illegally to obtain that benefit.
One of the lessons of the current economic maelstrom is that it was right to oppose the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill" which would have flooded the country with cheap labor.
It seems like just yesterday that Harry Reid was declaring that he would need 200,000 more workers for Las Vegas alone.
Our problem is greedy insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, not immigrants "stealing" our benefits. People have been coming to this country for centuries. That's a good sign, trust me. That means things could be a lot worse.
With the bad economy, thousands of illegals are returning home, much to the consternation of El Presidente.
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Oh dear, what will we do now?? Make it more attractive to make a run for the border by offering more give away programs.
if the dems want to stay in power for the next thirty years, they'll find an equitable, humane solution to the immigration debacle that doesn't scapegoat latinos. the gop messed up big time w/ their rabid xenophobia. let's see what the dems will do in addressing this issue in ways that won't insult chicanos by punishing the lowliest of america's workers. i know for sure that i'll be watching.
Political reality. Baucus is a dem from Montana he has to be against a lot of things. He is going to vote no on this but the reason the faith of the Latino/a community is about to be rewarded is that we have 59 dems and Baucus has to win re election in 4 years. He can't do that voting yes on entitlement programs of any sort but especially not on ones dealing with immigration. I'd rather have him vote no on this issue and yes on the 50 other pieces of legislation that will benefit democrats then vote yes on this and have to wear it like a noose in 2012.
J
Good point about Baucus. North Dakota. Of course, it's the boneheads on the other side of the country that are freaking out about this insuring children "problem."
Sorry, I meant Montana.
I dont see how people still confuse illegal immigration with legal immigration
RachelMc:
You don't. I don't. Lou Dobbs doesn't - but by leaving out the word 'illegal', Mario, et al, are only confusing the issue.
documented workers and undocumented is the PC term I think.
Most of those of both persuasions Dem and Republican are adamantly against ILLEGAL immigrants
"Most of those of both persuasions Dem and Republican are adamantly against ILLEGAL immigrants"
The people are but the politicans aren't . . . they pander for votes.
don't dare speak for me.
25 year olds who are still in school, just like the insurance of any kid on their parents plan.
J
Isn't 25 yrs old the cut off age for most insurances
Mario, you are dead wrong to call it "GOP anti-immigrant race baiting." It is anti -ILLEGAL immigrant, and there IS NO race baiting. And you know it.
Uhhhhh I have to disagree with Geranium. There is virulent race baiting in the GOP especially about issues of immigration. If you are a republican and don't like the race baiting don't tell us, tell the GOP.
J
Sure would be nice if we stopped working on helping other people's children and tried helping our own. Democrats needs to stop bowing down to open border people.
Nope, get ready for an amnesty in the next 5 years. Not an if but a when. Thirty million Latinos becoming citizens and voting dem for the rest of their lives, their kids lives, and their kids too. Isn't it great when you can benefit while doing the right thing.
J
thanks.
Not if the outcry of May '07 is repeated. And it will be.
And while what you said sounds good, as a matter of pragmatics, logistics and foresight, it isn't.
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