Children's Healthcare Vetoed

George Bush living as he has been in his Washington bubble failed to listen to Republicans and Democrats alike and vetoed the expansion of the S-CHIP program. I just received an e-mail from my Congressional Representative -- Lois Capps (D -- 23rd District, California) giving her take on this. I thought it worth sharing. Let us hope that Lois and other supporters of this important bill can persuade a few more reluctant Republicans to do what's right and what an overwhelming percentage of Americans want to see happen!!
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Dear Robert,

Today is a sad day. Unfortunately, President Bush just followed through on his threat to deny health care to millions of children by vetoing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization bill. This important bill passed with strong bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate. And recent polls show nearly 75 percent of Americans support the bill as well. Yet, the President ignored this bipartisan agreement on an issue that we should all be able to come together on: ensuring that all our kids have access to quality health care.
The President claims he vetoed the bill because it is fiscally irresponsible. This claim is hypocritical and frankly ridiculous. For six years President Bush signed every out-of-control spending bill passed by the Republican Congress, turning a $128 billion surplus into a $413 billion deficit in only three years. And the truth is every provision of this bill is paid for and would not burden future generations with additional debt, unlike much of the legislation passed by the Republican controlled Congress over the previous few years.
In addition, this bill would:
  • Provide health care coverage for 4 million currently uninsured children
  • Continue coverage for 6 million children under the current program
  • Increase children's access to dental and mental health benefits
  • Give states incentives to lower the rate of uninsured low income children
  • Improve outreach and methods of identifying eligible children
  • Establish a new initiative to improve the quality of care
  • Expand prenatal care coverage for pregnant women
I’ve spent most of my life, first as a school nurse and now as a Member of Congress, working to protect and promote the health and well being of our kids. This legislation would go a long way toward achieving that goal. This responsible, bipartisan bill would deliver health insurance to millions of children, including tens of thousands of Central and South Coast kids, who would otherwise be left without any health care.
The House will soon move to override the President’s veto of this critical legislation. While this legislation did not pass the House by a veto-proof margin, we will be working diligently to persuade more of our Republican colleagues to stand with American children instead of President Bush. This legislation is too important to fail. As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. Please feel free to forward this message to your family and friends.

Sincerely,
LOIS CAPPS
Member of Congress

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