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Democrats to Republicans: You are with us or against us on SCHIP bill |
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By Jonathan E. Kaplan
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Posted: 09/25/07 07:07 PM [ET] |
Democratic leaders are using President Bush’s “you’re with us or against us” campaign strategy to win a veto-proof majority when the House votes Tuesday on legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Democrats warned Republicans to vote for the bill, which would expand the SCHIP program, or pay a political price in 2008. The choice, Democratic leaders say, is between providing healthcare to 10 million children or striking them from the SCHIP rolls.
“I find it unbelievable that the president wants to test every kid on their math skills, but won’t let them get tested for measles and mumps,” the Democratic Caucus chairman, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), said. “And the country will find that hard to swallow as well.”
President Bush has said he would veto the bill, which would cover 10 million children and cost $35 billion over five years. The program, set to expire Sept. 30, would be paid for by a federal 61-cent-per-pack tobacco tax hike.
Although congressional Democrats are facing a bigger fight with the White House over the 12 annual spending bills that need to be signed into law to keep the government running, Democrats were talking tough on Monday.
Democrats sought to beat back potential criticism of the tobacco tax increase by noting that Republicans already approved a 45-cent tax increase when they voted last month for a motion to recommit the SCHIP bill.
The GOP’s motion to recommit, its last and only chance on the House floor to amend the bill, eliminated cuts Democrats made to the Medicare Advantage program but did not cut the 45-cent tax increase. The procedural motion failed 202–226.
“Rather than mischaracterize the motion to recommit, Dems could actually call us or include us in a conference,” Amos Snead, press secretary to Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), said.
Asked why the GOP did not kill the 45-cent tax increase, Snead said Democrats were complaining to the media about the tax that the GOP saw no reason to highlight it.
The final bill passed 225-204. Democrats lost 10 votes, but gained five Republican votes. The measure won 18 Republican votes in the Senate.
Democratic aides also circulated a 2004 campaign advertisement run by Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), whose challenger opposed SCHIP. The 60-second spot, shot in black-and-white, features a young mother with her 3-year-old daughter, who was thrown off the SCHIP rolls in Texas.
“Look at my little girl,” the mother says in the advertisement, “[And] tell her why she is not good enough to be taken care of.”
Edwards, who represents Bush’s hometown of Crawford, Texas, handily won in a district that overwhelmingly voted for Bush.
Democrats also hyped polling from a GOP firm showing that Republicans should be worried about political fallout from opposing the SCHIP bill. A poll conducted last week by the GOP firm Fabrizio McLaughlin & Associates found that 62 percent of Republicans favored the $35 billion expansion of the program while 59 percent of GOP voters said they wanted their representative to approve the measure.
Despite the political pressure on Republicans, Democrats spent Monday whipping their own members. More than 10 Democrats could defect because of the 16-cent-higher tobacco tax increase.
In April, 15 Democrats sent a letter to Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.) encouraging him not to raise the tobacco the tax in the budget resolution. They wrote that tobacco taxes were regressive and a declining source of revenue.
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) said he could deliver 30 votes, but Democrats would need another 30 votes and some tobacco-state Democrats were balking at voting for a bill with a higher tobacco tax, according to Democratic aides. Emanuel spent Monday hunting for Republican votes, Democratic leadership aides said.
If Democrats cannot secure enough votes to override Bush’s expected veto, they might have to pass a bill extending the program while forcing frequent votes to expand the program.
Across the ideological spectrum, pressure groups continued to engage on the issue. MoveOn.org, the liberal Internet grassroots organization, jumped into the debate, asking its members to write their congressman to encourage him or her to vote for SCHIP. |
