On Senate Floor, Grassley Again Rebukes Bush Over SCHIP

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, issued another strong rebuke of the Bush administration’s threats to veto expansion of health insurance for children on Wednesday while Democrats began framing the controversy as a key issue in the 2008 elections.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate brought together religious leaders on Wednesday as Congress’s fight with the White House over the expansion of children’s health care intensified.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., along with Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., brought a rabbi, a Catholic nun and a Catholic priest in front of the media to plead with President Bush to spare the State Children’s Health Initiative Program.

Democrats have threatened to turn efforts by the administration to kill funding for the insurance program into a major campaign issue next year. Although 45 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill, Bush’s promise to veto the measure has split the party.That didn’t stop Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, from delivering more strong words of support for the measure again Wednesday.

During a speech on the floor of the Senate, Grassley reminded his Republican colleagues that the president promised the American people comprehensive healthcare coverage for children during a speech he gave after being nominated for re-election in 2004.

“During the Republican National Convention in New York City, President Bush was very firm on this point.  Here is what he said, and I quote: `America’s children must also have a healthy start in life. In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government’s health insurance programs. We will not allow a lack of attention or information to stand between these children and the health care they need,’ ” Grassley said.

“The President was pretty clear in his convictions then.” Grassley said. “Let me repeat his words because I think they are important.  He said he would ‘lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children . . . [in] the government’s health insurance programs.’” 

SCHIP was first proposed by a Republican-led Congress in 1997 and was designed to provide affordable health coverage for low-income children of working families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford private insurance.

In July, the Senate Finance Committee agreed on a 17-to-4 vote to broaden SCHIP by expanding the number of children who qualify. The $35 billion package passed the Senate in August, 68-31. The House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a version of the bill that was modified after the president threatened to veto the legislation during a press conference last week. The House bill received 265 votes, too few to override a presidential veto. But Grassley and other Republicans and Democrats in the Senate still hope to persuade the president to reconsider.

The $35 billion package would be paid for by an increase in the cigarette tax and would include no Medicare provisions, Grassley said.

“This compromise agreement is consistent with principles we put forth in the Senate bill,” Grassley said. “And I made clear during the debate of the bipartisan Senate bill, that the Senate went as far as I was willing to go in terms of spending and policy.”

Grassley told his colleagues that the Senate bill refocuses the program on low-income children, phases adults off the program, prohibits new waivers for parent coverage, reduces the federal match rate for states that cover parents, and includes new improvements to reduce the substitution of public coverage for private coverage.

The proposed legislation would enable the addition of 3 million low-income children to the program. It discourages states from covering higher income kids by reducing the federal matching rate for states that wish to expand eligibility over 300 percent of the federal poverty limit.

“The message to states is clear: Cover your poorest kids first,” Grassley said. “Don’t spend money on childless adults.  Don’t spend money on parents unless you can prove you are covering your low-income kids.  Don’t spend money on higher income kids unless you can prove you are covering your higher income kids.”

Bush has complained that the bill moves America closer to federalized health care, a point that Grassley has disagreed with on several occasions:

“The bill is not a government takeover of health care. The bill is not socialized medicine. Screaming `socialized medicine’ during a health care debate is like shouting `fire’ in a crowded theater. It is intended to cause hysteria that diverts people from looking at the facts. To those of you who make such outlandish accusations, I say, go shout `fire’ somewhere else.  Serious people are trying to get real work done. Now’s the time to get this done.”
 

Jennifer Mullin, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Harkin is intent on seeing that SCHIP funding is approved.

“We are continuing to beat the drum for SCHIP and urge the president to sign the bipartisan bill that will pass the senate tomorrow and an overwhelming majority of Americans, and Iowans, support,” she said.

She said Harkin is grateful to Grassley for his work, particularly because of the position of other Republicans.

“We are thankful he is doing the right thing for Iowa families. However, other members of his party are being disingenuous when it comes to this issue. They are using scare tactics to try and convince Americans that this is the beginning of ‘a government-run health care system’. That is simply not the case,” she said.

“SCHIP has been a wildly successful program that has ensured more than 6 million children have access to health care – these kids would be without access to basic medical care without this program,” Mullin said. “This is yet another stark reminder of how out of touch the President and some Republicans are with working families.”