SCHIP was just renewed again by the US Senate, but the Republican party fought tooth and nail against it. The honorable position should be that all children should have access to health care and medical treatment. But apparently not all lawmakers agree. Since 1997 the SCHIP program has provided health coverage to millions of children who need medical care, as some in Congress wish to deny them basic care, while continuing to blame their parents for being unable to provide that coverage.
The third time is apparently the charm for greater expansion. President Obama is expected to sign the bill which was approved by both houses of Congress. The Senate passed the SCHIP bill by a lopsided 66 to 32 vote, but that didn't make certain Republicans feel any better, as partisan politics continued to reign in Washington.
It seems the sticking point for Republicans was a provision that allowed some legal immigrants to enroll in SCHIP. GOP lawmakers wanted to keep the law as-is, which forces legal immigrants to wait five years before they become eligible. In the last expansion bill, lawmakers compromised and omitted the immigrant provision, but with a strong majority and a Democratic president, the Senate Democrats re-added it.
The debate in the chamber apparently wasn't a calm one. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah stated that the addition of the provision was a slap in the face of those who had worked with the other side. He added that without the provision it could have passed with 95 votes.
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi questioned whether the real intent of the legislation was to replace private health care with a government run system. Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois saw it a bit differently, when he advised that the debate was about children's health care, and was not a debate about immigration. - 15224
The third time is apparently the charm for greater expansion. President Obama is expected to sign the bill which was approved by both houses of Congress. The Senate passed the SCHIP bill by a lopsided 66 to 32 vote, but that didn't make certain Republicans feel any better, as partisan politics continued to reign in Washington.
It seems the sticking point for Republicans was a provision that allowed some legal immigrants to enroll in SCHIP. GOP lawmakers wanted to keep the law as-is, which forces legal immigrants to wait five years before they become eligible. In the last expansion bill, lawmakers compromised and omitted the immigrant provision, but with a strong majority and a Democratic president, the Senate Democrats re-added it.
The debate in the chamber apparently wasn't a calm one. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah stated that the addition of the provision was a slap in the face of those who had worked with the other side. He added that without the provision it could have passed with 95 votes.
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi questioned whether the real intent of the legislation was to replace private health care with a government run system. Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois saw it a bit differently, when he advised that the debate was about children's health care, and was not a debate about immigration. - 15224
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