Bush Prevails Again In Child Health Fight

(AP)  The House passed a revised children's health proposal Thursday, but not by the two-thirds margin that supporters will need if President Bush vetoes the measure as promised.

The 265-142 vote was a victory for Bush and his allies, who urged House Republicans to reject Democrats' claims that changes to the legislation had met their chief concerns. If the same vote occurs on a veto override attempt, Bush will prevail, as he did earlier this month when he vetoed a similar bill.

Liberal groups continue to run attack ads against Republicans siding with Bush on the issue, which many Democrats consider a winner for their party.

Democratic leaders said changes to the bill, which would add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, had addressed critics' concerns about participation by adults, illegal immigrants and families able to afford health insurance. But GOP leaders called the changes insignificant and politically motivated.

The decade-old health program is aimed at families that do not qualify for Medicaid but are too poor to afford medical insurance. As with the bill Bush vetoed, the revised measure would add would $35 billion over five years, financed by a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes.

Under the revisions, the program would exclude families earning more than three times the federal poverty rate. Low-income childless adults, which some states cover, would be phased out in one year. And states would have to be more rigorous in checking the validity of applicants' Social Security numbers, an effort to exclude illegal immigrants.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, likened the revisions to "window-dressing rather than substantive changes."

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the legislation "has the support of the American people."

Before Thursday's vote, the White House announced that Bush would veto the revised bill because it does too little to enroll low-income families ahead of those somewhat better off, and because it would cost more than the earlier bill.

Democrats said it would cost more because it would cover more low-income children, the program's chief goal.

[usaprophet]

I want to report a major fire, friends. CBS isn''t reporting it. Our Constitution is on fire. And it''s currently being burned in Congress. See H.R. 1955, a.k.a., Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. I couldn''t believe it. Apparently, activists with Web sites are really begining to anger the elite insofar as they are publically holding officials accountable for their evil. The bill passed the house on Oct 23, in spite of Congressman, Ron Paul''s opposition. The right to free speech on the Internet is gone, my friends. Look it up for yourself, and weep for your country as I have that our rights have eroded this far. Here''s a short excerpt from the bill''s DEFINITIONS statement: "The development and implementation of methods and processes that can be utilized to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States is critical to combating domestic terrorism." Here''s another excerpt from the bill''s FINDINGS statement: "The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens." And guess who get''s to decide what is "terrorist-related propaganda?" You got it! The Department of Homeland Insecurity, an agency that''s answerable ONLY to The President. If Ron Paul isn''t elected, our country is doomed!

[rowdytexan2]

Thank you taotxzen, well said.

If we can send our legislators the message that if they don''t send any legislation for Bush to sign, he loses power. He has nothing to bargain with or posture about. If the legislation they send doesn''t suit his purpose he will veto it and make them write it his way. We don''t want anymore of HIS WAY.

Send enough bills to fund this country for the next 15 months...and wait until you can pass some legislation for the people, and make a good name for yourself as a legislator.

Bickering with Bush over legislation is defeatism, cuz his cronies are still in the Senate.

If the candidates will stand up and state their real convictions, instead of petting Bush''s behind, then it''s a win for them, and for the people.

I will NOT VOTE for ANYBODY that agrees to fund his war and continue to bankrupt this country.

[nofascists]

Mudrose:

Oh yeah, one other Bush scandal that you might have some difficulty topping, U.S. Deaths in Iraq Confirmed by the Department of Defense - 3,836

[sftodd]

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women%u2019s rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?

When the president talks to God
Does what God say ever change his mind?

When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?

When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs, the ghetto''s broke
No, they''re lazy, George, I say we don''t
Just give ''em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That''s what God recommends

When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he''s not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bull***
When the president talks to God?

I doubt it

I doubt it

-- Bright Eyes

[forthepeopl1]

The committee''''s endorsement of the immunity plan is needed for the broader legislation to move forward. Some senators refuse to consider the matter without seeing the classified documents.

"Immunity suggests that there''''s been a violation of the law and they want to be absolved from any liability," Sen. *** Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters. "I would like to know what happened before I absolve anyone from liability."

The documents have so far not been made available to congressional counterparts on the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.

The Senate bill would direct courts to dismiss lawsuits against telecommunications companies if the attorney general certified that a company gave assistance between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 17, 2007, in response to a written request authorized by the president, in trying to detect or prevent an attack on the United States.

Suits also would be dismissed if the attorney general certified that a company named in a case provided no assistance to the government. The public record would not reflect which certification was given to the court.

so our laws mean NOTHING to anyone that works in the GOVERNEMNT. if they dont have to follow laws then NO AMERICANS HAS TO...THIS WILL BE A BIG MISTAKE TO HAPPEN IF CONGRESS LETS THIS GET INTO LAW....

[taotxzen]

Mudrose:

FYI Here is my scandal list for Bush. Now granted Hillary has been in the public eye far longer than Bushs seven year administration so Im sure you will have no trouble coming up with more corrupt deeds that Hillary has perpetrated on the far right.

Abu Ghraib, Plamegate, Niger Forgeries, Manipulated Intellegence on Iraq, Pundits on the Payroll, Illegal warrantless NSA wiretapping, Walter Reed, Firing of US attorneys, illegally transferring resources to Iraq from Afghanistan, Halliburton and Cheney, Hurricane Katrina and reconstruction, Black prisons and extraordinary rendition, Homeland Security, Blackwater, involvement in Delays and Abramoffs K Street Lobbyists Project, Cheney''s Energy Policy, tax cuts for the wealthiest, denial of Global warming, big budget deficits and vastly increased national debt, big pharmaceuticals write prescription drug plan, attempts to torpedo the 911 Commission, loss of US reputation internationally after massive post-911 world support, underfunding of basic research, Alberto Gonzales, FDA and EPA, Porter Goss and the gutting of the CIA, Signing statements, Overuse and abuse of the National Guard and Reserves, US balance of trade deficit, Dubai Ports deal,

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

The War on Science, Harriet Miers, stem cell research, Missile defense shield that doesn''t work, defunding overseas AIDS programs, male prostitute Gannon/Guckert, Native American trust funds, false military reporting on Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch, Guantanamo torture, Bush connections to Enron and Ken Lay, refusing to intervene in the California electricity crisis, lack of action on Darfur despite Congress declaring it genocide, White House involvement in election day phone jamming, attempted use of GSA to promote Republican candidates, Karl Rove and the culture of corruption, Voter suppression, voter ID laws, Swift boating of John Kerry, No Child Left Behind, based on flawed and false data, Rumsfields not enough boots on the ground war strategy, Paul Bremer''s wrong at every turn mismanagement of post war Iraq, a supreme lack of oversight by a rubberstamping Republican Congress for 5 years, stacking of the federal judiciary with unqualified rightwing hacks, Ralph "I need to start humping in corporate accounts" Reed led Christian Coalition, lax security at US nuclear facilities, Geneva Convention does not apply, State Children''s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)%u2026

[taotxzen]

mudrose

Give me your list of Hillarys scandalous deeds, obviously she has wronged you and your right winged brethren to the point that your heads spin ala Linda Blair at the mention of her name.

Be specific, drop the name calling and provide actual examples, Im sure you have plenty.

[taotxzen]

Syndicated columnist Robert Novak warns that the federally financed, state-run Children%u2019s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is essentially a socialist conspiracy. So does President Bush, who has threatened to veto a modest increase in that program%u2019s funding because he doesn%u2019t want to %u201Cfederalize health care.%u201D

Although the red threat can still trigger an autonomic reaction among the party%u2019s true believers, the rest of the country simply no longer twitches to that high-pitched, far-right whistle. Most polls not only show enormous majorities favoring the extension of health coverage to every child regardless of ability to pay, but substantial support for a radical change in how we pay and administer health insurance%u2014including the possibility of a single-payer system overseen by government.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

Why doesn%u2019t the traditional propaganda work any more? Perhaps the demise of the Soviet Union and the withering of Communism in Communist China have had a delayed effect on public attitudes in this country. Both the Russians and the Chinese have turned more capitalist than the West, abandoning their former systems without substituting modern democratic protections, leading to predictably bad consequences. As unbridled capitalists, the ex-Communists are more of a threat to the health of their own societies than to us.

Most Americans may also have noticed that corporate bureaucracy and corruption, which both figure largely in the present health care system, are not preferable to government bureaucracy. The same doctors who used to wail about the dangers of Medicare have learned how unpleasant it is to deal with dozens of insurance companies, each of which is creating different rules to cut costs and deny care as often as possible. So have their patients.

This corporate model is more expensive and less efficient than the government plans that provide care in every other industrialized nation.