Last week, the House of Representatives considered several resolutions to congratulate sports teams and one measure hailing Brett Favre, the soon-to-be Hall of Fame quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. This week we’ve already named three post offices. Yet, what has not occurred is a single meeting among a bipartisan group of Members in the House and Senate to discuss completing work on critical legislation to renew the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and sending the President a bill he can sign into law.
President Bush vetoed the Democrats’ SCHIP bill two weeks ago and House Republicans will sustain his veto when it comes before the House tomorrow. So, what happens after Democrats fail to override the veto? The way I see it, my Democratic colleagues face a very basic choice: either work with Republicans to renew SCHIP and accomplish something on behalf of low-income children or continue to play politics and refuse any bipartisan discussions whatsoever.
Based on their initial response, it’s safe to say that we already have our answer. The Senate Majority Leader said “we’re not going to compromise” and the Speaker of the House said “we’ve compromised all we can compromise.” Indeed, instead of working with Republicans to find common ground, Democratic-backed groups are pouring millions in TV and radio ads in an attempt to defeat GOP candidates in the next election. Underscoring their politics-first approach, Democratic leaders even chose to delay for two weeks the veto override vote they have acknowledged they will lose. Meanwhile, millions of low-income children wait for a bipartisan renewal of SCHIP.
Rather than waging a war of words through the media, Democrats and Republicans alike should be meeting in the Capitol, sitting across from a table working to craft a responsible bill that puts low-income children first. But we aren’t. Instead, Democratic leaders have chosen to drag out this process, confirming once again they are more concerned with the next election than they are with expanding health care access for low-income children.
In 1997, under a Republican-led Congress, both parties worked together to establish SCHIP to cover low-income children who have no health insurance. A decade later, the program is working well, but it could be working even better. More than 500,000 children under 200 percent of poverty are eligible for SCHIP right now, yet they are not covered. Thousands of children in my home state of Ohio – children who are eligible for this program – remain without coverage. We have a responsibility to make sure these low-income boys and girls are actually getting covered. Right now, too many simply are not.