Author: Bill Scher

As noted here before, House conservatives are sweating the upcoming vote to override Bush\’s veto of SCHIP expansion. Unlike Bush, everyone in the House is up for re-election in 2008. Support for covering 4 million more children with health insurance, and paying for it, is huge among Democrats, independents and Republicans. When people of all…

Perhaps the only thing going for conservatives in the SCHIP debate is complete journalistic incompetence from the Washington media. Chris Matthews on MSNBC\’s Hardball just asserted that the SCHIP bill isn\’t paid for and doesn\’t include a raise in tobacco taxes. He then charged Democrats for not having the \”guts to finance it.\” This is…

This morning, President Bush stood for bad government, insurance companies and cheaper tobacco and vetoed expanding the State Children\’s Health Insurance Program to cover 10 million kids. In the words of the White House, the plan was to \”veto it quietly,\” so not to draw attention to such an unpopular act. The latest poll from…

Kudos to Rebecca from Saint Paul! She submitted one of our proposed State Children\’s Health Insurance Program questions to \”Ask The White House:\” SCHIP has succeeded in cutting the rate of uninsured children, while the rate of uninsured adults has gone up. But we still have 9 million uninsured kids to cover. Why do you…

Watch my interview below from the LiberalOasis Radio Show, about how healthcare is shaping the presidential race in 2008. Part 1: Part 2:

Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, we post suggested questions for scheduled Sunday guests. You can add your own questions in the comment thread. We\’ll also include contact information for the shows, so we can let them know what their viewers want asked. And on Sunday at 4 PM ET, tune in to Air…

Today, the Senate passed the expansion of the State Children\’s Health Insurance Program with a veto-proof 69 votes, including 18 Republicans. Meanwhile, the fallout from the House vote is beginning to ripple across the country. The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser leads its story with: Reps. Mike Rogers and Terry Everett voted against a bill that would…

Conservatives are continuing to sweat. They clearly realize that they have failed to sell their misinformation about the proposed expansion of the State Children\’s Health Insurance Program. Now, panicked that voters will remember on Election Day who stood for kids and who didn\’t, conservatives are trying to slap together their own legislation. Heritage Foundation\’s Robert…

The House passed the expansion of the State Children\’s Health Insurance Program last night, 265-159. 40 Republicans and four Democrats — who last month voted against healthy kids — now felt the pressure, recognized that the conservative misinformation campaign was a failure, and switched their votes. Yet enough conservatives voted for bad government and sick…

With the House vote on expanding the State Children\’s Health Insurance Program expected later today, bloggers are rising up and putting heat on wavering congresspeople. FireDogLake: Having worked with at risk children in abuse and neglect cases, I can tell you first hand how important early intervention health care can be for these kids. This…