Dara Wilkerson picks up her energetic daughter Bethany Wilkerson (in denim dress), 2, of St. Petersburg, on stage during a SEIU event rallying support for the SCHIP Veto overturn vote to take place this week. Bethany had a heart surgery that saved her life that SCHIP covered in addition to the long term treatment for her heart condition.It’s been a bruising few months as special interests have spent millions of dollars and countless hours battling over how to fund children’s health care. And if the House votes as expected Thursday to uphold the president’s veto, insurance and tobacco companies will emerge victorious.
For now.
Slate.com reports on the tobacco companies' influence on lawmakers and the president who rejected the passed bill. Money is funding the message on both sides of the debate. The $35 billion bill would be funded in part by 61-cent tobacco tax hike. PACs, big business and individual grassroot interests are all getting into trying to influence lawmakers, as the story reports.
Meanwhile, 2-year-old Bethany Wilkerson has been a star on the side pushing for passage of SCHIP. She stars in the Truemajority.org ad pushing for a overide of the president's veto, linked here:
On the other side, "child swiftboating" -- it has been suggested in the blogosphrere that the parents of Brittany Wilkerson should not have had their child because they didn't have health insurance.
Now that's hardball.
5 comments:
Children's healthcare is an extremely tense topic to debate becuse it rests on so much emotion--I'm pretty surprised that tobacco companies are victorious in such a case--i guess laws are really like sausages.
This is exactly what's wrong with our government. Instead of finding a solution, the different parts of the government are telling each other it's thier fault. The president accuses the congress of trying to make state health care legal, while the congress tells the president that he doesn't care for the children. The president and the congress need to stop playing games with poor children's healthcare, and act like civilized adults, stop the poltical games, and provide the necessary support for kids in a compromise. The fact that the bill got rejected is both of their faults, and they wonder why the american people hate them? Come on, your denying innocent children healthcare, just to push thier policies and secure re-election (in the case of congress). As for lobbyists, there are lobbyists on both sides of the issue, and they should have no part in the decision, as they are not trying to help the average american; all they're trying to do is helping minority interests. Its time that politicians do the right thing, because if they don't everyone gets, well, screwed over.
~Alex
That's the problem with focusing on politics and not governing. I think it's a little ridiculous that Bush - who's not even going to be up for re-election and doesn't have much to lose at this point - still refuses to support measures like healthcare and won't even participate in international environmental talks - unless he's the host, in which case nothing is accomplished. I wish he would forget about politics and parties and rich people for once and just do what most people really want. The SCHIP bill wasn't perfect, and I can see the point about hurting workers indirectly, but the fact is that many people would have benefited, too.
Both sides are very much at fault for their lack of compromise on this big ol' can o' worms. Bush was pushing for a $35 billion expansion (NOT a reduction in spending), Congress wants a $60 billion expansion. Hey, how about $47.5 billion? At least it's a compromise, and it still puts an even bigger strain on taxpayers. As for special intersts, I have to agree that lobbyists hold a lot of sway on this issue, and again, it just goes to show you how reluctant Congress and the President are to compromise
I honestly can't beleive that the government is trying to decide between children's health care and a 61 cent tobacco tax hike. That is absolutely unbeleiveable. Having a baby costs thousands of dollars, not to mention the money spent on medical bills for them--babies get sick very often. I don't see how a comapny selling an addictive, poisonous substance can have priority over children. Is the president always swayed by greedy interest groups--first it was oil and now drugs? Why is it so easy to pass legislation for a minute of "relfection" everyday in schools but its like walking through quicksand when it comes to providing health care for children?
Politicians wonder why the youth of America are lethargic and don't vote? teachers still wonder why many teens could care less about the news? This world is worse than a fantasy novel and its depressing to look at the selfish leaders of our nation.
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