For Once, Broder Has A Point

Today the Senate passed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with what the WAPO called “an overwhelming bi-partisan vote” of 67 to 29. You’d think that since the SCHIP is a government program with a track record of success, everyone could get behind. But you’d be wrong. Nevada’s Dean Heller for instance. Heller’s vote against expanding a successful health program to reach 10 million children, was one of two dozen in the House that will enable Bush’s expected veto of the bill.

But let’s look at what’s wrong with Bush’s argument that expanding SCHIP is a step toward the “federalization of health care.” Federalization of health care, socialized medicine, expansion of the nanny state–these labels are non-starters–Republican speak for expanding what they like to call the “nanny state.” Republicans like Bush and Heller support legislation that expands the legal rights and powers of corporations whenever an opportunity appears. They also love passing tax incentives and protections for corporations. And that my friends is the corporate nanny state. Somehow the Republican party has turned welfare for rich white men into something that’s more important and more moral to support than the health of poor children. Corporate welfare is bigger and bolder than it ever has been thanks to BushCo, so your ears should prick up anytime you hear the familiar refrain of the “nanny state” and other like terms. Its almost certain something rotten is hiding behind that kind of talk. We’ve got to start turning this rhetoric on its head. Government is not bad, people are bad, and this administration seems determined to do whatever it can to throw the baby out with the bath water and ruin government for all of us. I heard Tom Hartmann recall a quote from someone (I can’t remember who), who said that Bill Gates was the biggest welfare queen ever. And whenever someone is telling you that they have never seen a program that worked better when run by the government than it could be in the “free market,” you can point to the federal student loan program. It was only when the federal student loan program began letting corporations got involved under the Bush Administration that students saw higher interest rates and lenders started paying kickbacks to college administrators.

So here is where David Broder is right on for a change. Its goes beyond hypocrisy for Republicans like Heller to claim they don’t support SCHIP because its an expansion of government, while they do support corporate welfare wherever it rears its ugly head. In Heller’s case, its oil and gas subsidies. Here’sBroder:

In his new book, former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan wrote that his fellow Republicans deserved to lose their congressional majority in 2006 because they let spending run out of control and turned a blind eye toward misbehavior by their own members. Now, those Republicans have given voters a fresh reason to question their priorities — or their common sense.

Saying no to immigration reform and measures to shorten the war in Iraq may be politically defensible, because there are substantial constituencies who question the wisdom of those bills — and who favor alternative policies. But the Bush administration’s arguments against SCHIP — the cost of the program and the financing — sound hollow at a time when billions more are being spent in Iraq with no end in sight.

I’ll remember Heller’s vote on SCHIP in 2008. Will you? Sometimes the government does things that are right. Why doesn’t Heller?

Similar Posts:

• Dean Heller No Vote On SCHIP: Let The Pressure Begin
• Dean Heller Gets Roasted over The Coals
• Dean Heller Conference Call

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