Dennis Kucinich On SCHIP --" My Way Or The Highway"

Yesterday I asked why Dennis Kucinich voted against the final compromise version of SCHIP. He had voted for the original house bill. Well straight from his website here is his explanation.

“I cannot support legislation which extends health coverage to some children while openly denying it to other children,” Kucinich said. “This legislation is woefully inadequate: and I will not support it."

OK, the version that emerged from committee was a bipartisan compromise of the House and Senate versions of the bill. When I was young, which was before the Newt Gingrich era changed everything, I was taught that compromise is the Congressional stock in trade. One side doesn't get everything it wants, but neither does the other side. Give and take. Give and take.

I guess Kucinich is a completely modern politician who eschews the old fashioned. Kucinich says that he can't support the compromise. As far as children's health is concerned its his way or the highway. Odd, doesn't "the decider" George W. Bush have that same "my way or the highway" approach to Democracy.

Maybe Dennis Kucinich could learn something about Democracy if he listened to Charles Grassley on how the legislative process works. Here is Grassley talking about President Bush's shameful veto of SCHIP and his unwillingness to work with Congress in the days prior to it's passage.

Dennis, if you are listening, do American democracy a favor and announce that you will vote to override.



Like I said Congress and the rest of our government used to be about give and take, not "my way or the highway." Those were happier days. Those were days of American greatness.

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Three GOP Senators Tell Bush To Back Off Threatened Veto Of SCHIP

I reported on July 8 and then again on July 11 about the reauthorization of the STATE CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM (SCHIP) currently is working it's way through Congress. In my July 11 post I noted that the belief tankers at the Heritage Foundation oppose the SCHIP program as a gateway to "socialized medicine." Beltway conservatives have gone so far as to suggest that the President will veto any bill that doesn't roll the program back to something they approve. CQ.com reports that members of the Senate Finance Committee confirm that administration officials have also threatened a veto. SCHIP is the darling of any number of conservative Republican governors. Apparently veto talk sent shock waves through their ranks.

According to CQ.com reporter Alex Wayne the veto threat has lead three key Republican Senators Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Pat Roberts of Kansas to push back in a letter sent to the administration on Wednesday

“What the administration needs to understand is that if a bipartisan plan isn’t achieved, then the Democratic-controlled Congress will, at the very least, extend the current program with all the terrible policy provisions that have evolved, such as waivers for childless adults and coverage for higher-income kids.”

Fox News says Bush's people now deny that they have ever said the President will veto the reauthorization bill although he reserves the right to veto in the event the program is greatly expanded.

In a battle between ideology and political reality, political reality wins again.

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