SCHIP Warrants Reconstruction and Reconsideration (Rep. Joe Barton)

SCHIP turned sharply partisan when the majority opted to manufacture a fight with the president instead of simply extending a good program.  We think the time is near when no more political advantage can be wrung from it, though, and then we can cooperate to write and pass a bipartisan bill.  Even if Democratic and Republican principles cannot be reconciled through good-faith bipartisanship, an honest airing of facts accompanied by actual amendments and real votes cannot help but produce a dramatically superior bill.  We hope that Speaker Pelosi can find a way to agree that honest process produces better laws, and that she will quickly instruct the House committees to conduct public hearings followed by fair, open markups of the SCHIP extension.

As for Republicans, we want what we’ve always wanted – the continuation of a sound program that covers needy kids first.  We know what constitutes a poor, sick child and what constitutes a voting age New Yorker with an $80,000 salary, and we know the difference.  We won’t use SCHIP funding to buy votes, we won’t pretend that adults are children, and we won’t pay for our program by raising taxes or kicking senior citizens off Medicare Advantage.  Republicans will strongly support the straightforward extension of the children’s health insurance program that puts kids first instead of politics.