Progressives in Congress are failing America and those who work hard to earn their way through life. Progressives won't be satisfied until every American is equally poor and miserable, and of course dependent on the State, which will have transitioned from the freest nation ever created into the most Fascist.
2
Are none of these politicians parents? How can they callously cast aside protection for poor children or use them to hold Democrats hostage while they undo the New Deal?
It's unconscionable and we all need to punish them at the ballot box, especially those poor Republican families whose kids are being used as fodder for the Republican wealth agenda. Throw the bums out!
1
So, the GOP says "pull the plug on elder care, or this baby dies"? Oh, Lordy Lord, Lord. With Donald Trump as the great distraction, Congressional leaders actions just get uglier and uglier. I hope for, and will work for great changes in 2018.
3
Current GOP, "Life is SO precious - it ought to pay for itself!"
1
Sometimes the Bible has something pertinent to say about a given situation. To wit; Matthew 19:14, “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
I think for the “values voters” and their pious representatives in government, it’s good to remember that denying children health insurance, because you choose to pass judgement on the financial constraints of their parents is straight-up immorality. Most societies rightly elevate and protect their children; children whose fate represents the future of us all; not to protect their vulnerability, is both vile and foolish. Where is our Dickens, our Jonathan Swift? We could use the jolt of A Modest Proposal about now.
3
There is no surprise here. The Republicans could care less about the lives of children who are living. They only care about the unborn children that women carry, but once they are born Republicans turn their backs.
I have to say that the Republicans are consistent in their lack of character and morality.
3
Republicans in Congress are failing the citizens of the United States of America.
1
Republicans have no decency, they are thugs including Sen. Hatch a Mormon Bishop. He is about as mean-spirited as they come. Senator McCain has lost all the respect he once commanded. Not one Republican Senator, not one Republican Representative has served honorably. They have no human decency, all they show is their avarice. Words fail us.
1
They simply don't care.
Even middle to upper middle class parents are being forced to make devils advocates choices with their children’s Healthcare. My daughter works both for a Pediatric practice in an upper middle class close in Suburb, incomes of $100k ( but the least expensive house is $450k and apartments are over $2,000 per month). The practice she works at does not accept Medicaid or Peachcare ( Ga version of Chip). What they have been finding is that as inurance companies have been requiring patients to first see your primary care doctor before you can go to the ER. Some even require that they see the NP before they see the MD. More and more plans have $3000 -7,500 per person or 10,000-14,000 family deductible plans. Instead of taking their children to the ER they are waiting until not just Monday morning but Tuesday or Wednesday to bring a baby that should have gone to the ER over the weekend.
Last Tuesday, my daughter had a 3 mo old brought to the NP in obvious Respitory distress. The NP, immediately called in the MD, who looked at the infant and said call the Hospital and tell them this baby it’s way. Two hrs later the baby was in the highest level of ICU listed in respiratory failure. Still last Friday he was still listed in critical condition in ICU. The Doctor told the staff it is getting ridiculous that parents are afraid to take their children to the hospital. This child need to go Saturday. They see this weekly! Families making $100k with white collar jobs.
1
Don't expect to shame Republicans into releasing their hostage. Time to make a deal and pay the ransom, to save kids lives. Next election - make them pay for it.
1
The real reason the Republicans are denying kids health care is because twenty years ago in 1997 the CHIP program became reality in no small part because of the hard work of Hillary Clinton. The irrational decisioning of this administration -- devoid of moral and ethical analysis -- appears virtually unlimited.
1
I'd ask Trumpists how they'd feel at news that eight or nine million kids wer being held hostage until a loudmouthed billionaire had his insane demands met, but I know the answer.
Are we talking American kids here? How many is white? Do the demands put America First?
Big oops! - if my first comment posts, it's www.realkochfacts.com. And to finish, CHIP is just the beginning.
(If only there was an edit button for a final proof read! Sorry!)
Welcome to democracy.
If you're willing to violate the Constitution in order to steal a Supreme Court seat, elect an unhinged pathologically lying convicted racist, and give your full endorsement to a credibly accused pedophile, why would you have a problem denying millions of kids health insurance?
It's called consistency. And the only consistent question Republicans seem to ask these days is, "Is it morally depraved?"
"So, a bunch of poor and middle class kids might die because of this? We LOVE it! Grab the champagne and caviar and meet me on the yacht!"
Perhaps I'm being too hard on them. Perhaps they really do care - as long as it doesn't require any time, money or effort. You know. That "kind" of caring.
Anyone who believes that our current GOP actually cares about children and the American people is either willfully blind or mind numbingly naive. They are interested only in doing the bidding of their paymasters. Maybe they should pay for their own insurance and quit making the American people foot the bill. They are disgusting! They wrap themselves in the American flag, and sing "God Bless America" while ripping the American people off.
With cuts to education and health care for kids, it's as if the 0.1% want to only provide for the future of their own children. We pay lip service to equality for all children, but we consciously decide to leave many behind.
Why is it that top universities disproportionately accept children of the affluent? Is it the fact that upward mobility in this country is a thing of the past? That without the ability to pay for decent education and healthcare, the American dream is unobtainable? If you want the American dream, you are better off moving to Europe.
2
ha ha, what a joke! "Republicans want to work w Democrats!"... ha, ha....Republicans only want to win the 2018 elections so they must LOOK like they're working w Democrats.
Republicans don't have an ounce of compassion in themselves.
Are there no prison? Are there no workhouses? Why should rich, white Americans care about health care for poor children, many of whom have brown skin?
Will these children grow up and vote Republican? Of course not. Lock them up! Kick them out! Off with their heads! Bah, humbug!
With apologies to Charles Dickens and Ebeneezer Scrooge.
2
It's time for the democrats to shut down the government until the GOP repeals their horrible tax bill, restores the individual mandate, funds CHIP, makes DACA permanent with a path to citizenship for those children, and gets an increase in domestic spending. Otherwise, shut it down until the election. Much like Mitch did with Gorsuch, let the people decide their priorities.
Republicans care only about three constituencies: 1) themselves 2) their wealthy donors, aka Koch brothers 3) the 1% of the richest Americans.
No one else matters -- at all.
3
There is nothing lower than failing to care for children who need any sort of care, especially healthcare.
That Congress is not working on restoring CHIP is a new low, but a low in a series of new lows of the past year.
It seems that Republican leadership cares only about their big donors, not the kids. Shame on them.
3
Yes, and by doing so they are failing the future. Every one of them should be ashamed of themselves. There's no room to fund a program that keeps our future citizens healthy but there's room to cut taxes for the richest corporations and citizens in America? There's no money to help people who are handicapped, can't find jobs, can't retire yet, who need more care than they can pay for but it's okay to pass a tax overhaul with permanent cuts for the rich supporters of the GOP.
GOP priorities do not include the health of our youngest citizens, the safety of our transportation network, our environment, our health, a decent social safety net for those who, through no fault of their own (and there are more of us than most people like to think) can't find jobs to support themselves.
GOP = Grandiose Oldster Powertrippers.
4
The CHIP program is important to maintain, and I believe will be maintained. For immediacy purposes only, cut our annual monies to the UN in half and extend the CHIP program for months while a definite solution is found.
President Trump has an opportunity to step up on this one staring him in the face.
1
Republican in Congress have complained that they were magnanimously willing to fund CHIP but those partisan Democrats would not allow it. The Republicans only required that the funding for CHIP be taken away from other childhood health programs. CHIP is a large program, so to offset it you would have to totally close down several programs. Get rid of lead level testing, federal help for childhood immunizations, and federal help for developmentally disabled foster children, and Republican leaders would complain you still wouldn't have half the cuts needed.
Sometimes when a Republican gets really exasperated he will accidentally tell the truth. Orrin Hatch, who used to claim he favored children's health care, snarled that there was no money for CHIP as he was working to pass the big
tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
I heard on the radio today that over a hundred Republicans in the House and some in the Senate have said they would vote to fund CHIP if the leadership allowed it to come up for a vote. Maybe they would. Maybe they're mainly blowing smoke, because of course these are the people who voted for Ryan, McConnell, et al to be their leaders.
4
How can this happen in our country? Turning a blind eye is the same as supporting these horrendous policies. I’m in MX for vacation and I tell people I’m from Toronto.
BTW I have been going to MX for about 15 years and met hundreds of locals. The nicest, kindest, most respectful people I have met and I have been to 23 countries. Just got back from Basel and people are cold, unfriendly, won’t make eye contact to even greet you. In MX when you are greeted w a handshake it is followed by the right hand placed over the heart w smile.
1
No cliche is more true than this: children are our future. I can't think of few things more obscene than Republicans holding CHIPS hostage over Democrats in return for their votes in reducing Medicare. I keep on wondering when the Republican side of Congress will start doing the right thing by the American people. when will some of their members stop attacking the FBI, or the mainstream press, and stop engaging in conspiracy theories? When will they start taking meddling in our election by a foreign power seriously?
1
Apple is Failing America's Children
Congress will always fail children, because of the personal care they need from teachers, doctors, and parents. This is why the Constitution is silent on the issues of education and healthcare, rightly restricting any government involvement therein to states or localities via the 10th Amendment.
It is those who have applied an ignorant, all-encompassing reading of the "general welfare"
clause who are to blame for putting the future of CHIP and other programs in the hands of an incompetent GOP Congress.
The sociologist Abraham Maslow discussed a hierarchy of human needs beginning with an individual's basic need for safety, and ascending, via his pyramid, to the apex of self-actualization. In education, effective types of "scaffolding" are under development that can aid students transition from regions of simpler learning to complex learning, more confidently and independently.
The CHIPS program, and similar programs, such as subsidized school lunches, together act as a type of "social scaffolding," that enables poorer kids to meet many of their basic safety needs and physiological needs, as noted by Maslow.
To prevent the stigmatization and misdiagnosis of poor individuals as slower learners, because of environmentally created distractions, due to their unmet safety and other physiological needs, is a correctable error. And, the cost of this error grows more costly in today's economic environment of, with the exception of the 1930s, large, unprecedented disparities in the income and wealth distributions of Americans.
[JJL Tues, Jan 9, 2018 1:41 pm; Greenville NC]
3
The Republicans in Congress have clearly stated their goal: to keep the donor class happy in order to win re-election.
What this nation is doing to children, the infirm, the environment, our domestic policies and international alliances -- it's all dreadful.
I don't believe Republicans are susceptible to shame.
5
ergo, they are shameless.
Can any one give a good reason why it takes Congress to take care of those children? Where are the governments of the States in this issue? Before blaming the Congress take a look at the State and local governments first. Don't expect much of the Congress of the United Failed States of America.
1
Exactly. Where the Constitution is silent, the Congress has no role.
Nonsense. For one thing, you've got them confusd with the Judiciary. For another, these guys WRITE the bloody laws.
Republicans only care about children as future fodder for the American labor pool. Now that globalization has moved much of those jobs overseas, there is no political impetus to provide them with healthcare. If they wanted better healthcare they should have chosen better parents. Orrin Hatch spoke the open secret of Republican disdain for the poor aloud when he said that he was tired of spending millions and billions and trillions of dollars on people who were too lazy to life a finger to help themselves. Parents are responsible for paying these costs for their children and CHIP only teaches them to be lazy and dependent on government largesse. The only reason they pretend to care about this issue is as a political bargaining chip to force concessions from their Democrat enemies.
2
The Rs representatives and senators should have their family's health insurance cancelled!!! Ironically, when these children enter the health sysytem with significant chronic issues in years to come, the cost of their care will only be 3, 4, 5 times the preventative costs the Rs were attempting to save! Just more stupid behavior!!!
6
The measure of any society is how they care for their children.
Full stop.
Nothing reveals the decayed soul of the GOP more than their inaction on CHIP. Before Christmas they came through for their fat cat donors, their hedge fund buddies and, in a final pile of pork, they threw big bucks at real estate developers with pass-through financial arrangements. Then, in the ultimate Scrooge move, hopped on their flights home for the holidays leaving healthcare for low income children flapping in the wind.
They could have earned some goodwill, done something actually "Christian" in nature reflecting a basic understanding of the actual meaning of Christmas, acted like they gave a damn, but nothing tempted them to lock in health security for poor kids. Hard to even know what to say about hearts that stone cold. Off they went to home and hearth, leaving the kids with catastrophic family finances (often due to their huge medical expenses) on the brink of catastrophe. No doubt they were all in Church Christmas Day singing "Peace on earth good will towards men."
5
and of course NO abortion.
Really wish someone would answer one question: If Obamacare is THE great liberal accomplishment of the past half century, why the hell do I need a separate insurance program for Children? I mean not like we're not already outspending EVERY developed nation on healthcare.
4
Just because it's a great accomplishment doesn't mean it's perfect or even complete. Just because millions of people got access to healthcare doesn't mean that every child is now covered.
If you think that everyone should have healthcare, then we're in agreement. But if (as I suspect) you have spent the last seven years decrying the abominable overreach of ACA, then you're setting a house on fire, and then complaining that it's too hot.
8
This kind of situation illustrates why I don't like republicans in general and the self described evangelical wing of their party in particular. It's this "makers and takers" garbage. Health care for a child is not a bargaining chip to be traded for a stupid wall. Nobody in this "christian/whatever" country, especially a little kid, should have to suffer from a lack of access to a basic level of medical service. Anybody who opposes this idea would have surely been driven from the temple years ago which probably means those two services on Sunday could be cut to one. Why is this even an issue?
7
Trump won't fund CHIP because Hillary Clinton created the program.
3
If Obama had created it, it would have disappeared on Jan 20, 2017.
I never see the NY Times Editorial Board writing an editorial sticking up for the American middle class. You know the ones who make just enough money to not get health insurance subsidies but are getting crushed by skyrocketing Obamacare premiums. The ones who work everyday of the year to pay for healthcare. Get it together, what about the people that actually work.
4
This IS that editorial!
Chip is for families that work. Families.that don't work can get their children on Medicaid.
Heartless Republicans! Generous Democrats! Tell us, did Medicaid disappear too?
The R's in Congress are failing U.S. all!!
2
I think the Times should cease using the term "Republican Leader" when talking about ANY elected official. It has been many, many years since such a creature existed. Even if you search National Geographic you will find no such being........
2
Paying to the army more than the next 8 countries combined and don’t have money for a few kids. National anthem needs changing from the “land of the free” to the “land of the hypocrites, house of the devil, under one god, the 0.1% god”. Disgusting.
2
Our political system is becoming more corrupt with each passing day. One day we will all pay.
1
CHIP was a good policy in the late 90s when it was implemented. However, it has devolved into just one more entitlement program that should be shrunken severely. I'm not being unkind, but I'm not following the political agenda of the Dems or the NYTimes on this one. Both Bush and Obama increase those eligible for CHIP by millions. I had friends that paid for their kids insurance and then stopped as they could get it from CHIP for free. My friends are not poor, low-income families. ENOUGH!!! I know the Dems don't like this thinking nor this paper - democrats have turned into a party that believes the government is best suited to run everything for everyone; and control all. It was one thing to create policies to help those in dire straights in the 60s and beyond, but it's quite another to subsidize those that don't need to be in order to control the country and our lives.
7
So the possibility that some are taking "advantage" of the program warrants killing it. If Republicans are successful in killing Obama care it will be more difficult for many parents to get their children insured. Cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy will be another problem for parents seeking to get healthcare for themselves and their children. In a civilized country they would all be covered under the same single-payer healthcare system.
1
"I had friends that paid for their kids insurance and then stopped as they could get it from CHIP for free. My friends are not poor, low-income families."
For every family like the ones you describe, I can point to 10 I know who cannot afford healthcare for their children without the CHIP program. The people with whom you choose to associate may game the system. That doesn't mean everyone does.
3
Interesting comment. Here's the info on CHIP eligibility from the New Jersey.gov website:
In order to qualify, you must have an annual household income (before taxes) that is below the following amounts:
Household Size*
Maximum Income Level (Per Year)
1
$41580
2
$56070
3
$70560
4
$85050
5
$99540
6
$114030
Clearly the eligibility has been expanded because of the over all poor state of our healthcare system. Still is raises some questions.
Start with CHIP. No, start with dreamers. No, start with infrastructure. Or science. Or diplomacy. We can't start at any one place; Trumpism is destroying America on all fronts. We can't "win" by starting on one problem; it would be at best a temporary Pyrrhic victory. We need to start by getting rid of the bums. Put every 2018 candidate on the record on everything. Markey's bill under the CRA forcing a vote on Net Neutrality was a great start.
4
Republicans in Congress are failing everyone.
6
Well, the GOP is proving that it is not pro-life, it's only pro-life for those with money. The anti-abortion lobby has nothing to do with saving innocent lives, otherwise they would work harder to save the lives of children. Telling a woman what she can and cannot do with her body, now that is another question. To them, a woman's body belongs to the man who owns her, either by marriage, birth or employment. They elected someone who bragged about sexual assault to drive the point home: Women and children are commodities, some with value, others with only costs. Those with no monetary value are simply political bargaining chips. Pro-lifers... biggest bunch of hypocrites in modern history.
7
To have even gotten to this point is a shameful disgrace for this president
and Congress. The health of our children should not be open for debate.
Fund CHIP now!
4
Which article and section of the Constitution authorize federal involvement in healthcare? (Hint:"general welfare" is not the answer).
Charles--what part of the constitutions prohibits it? Hint; nine.
I have a suggestion: Stop free healthcare for illegal people in the US. Stop endless "entitlements" for non citizens like free education, food, housing. How about holding the fat, bloated foreign bureaucratic government elites responsible for their social problems. I know it flies in the face of socialist dogma, but you might remember that the country was founded on the premise "... all men are created equal and..."
2
The most frightening part for me is that 37% of us support these cretins. Effectively, an entire third of us are showing that we do not care about children. We do not care about poor people. We have become a callous and uncompassionate people, and we have the government that we deserve.
7
Who, that is not a congressperson, supports this lack of funding? Can the Times go out into the American population and find individual citizens who do NOT support CHIP or funding CHIP (and who actually understand that it helps children - let's make sure those detractors actually know what CHIP is)?
Let's have a story on who the American citizens are that do NOT support CHIP.
3
If you're interested in their reasoning, you can find several right here in the comments section. Just look around.
Bite the bullet, America's children, for ten more months when Americans will once again go to the polls to show the world that we are a civil and humane society as we take the Congressional Republicans to the proverbial slaughter house.
2
When you quantify everything, which has been the end result of placing a business model on the public sphere, you forget that there are human beings at the ends of those numbers. This is true for the GOP, until it hits them personally. Their lack of compassion is amazing, but what is truly mind-boggling is the disdain they show for other human beings. I would never have thought it possible for so many in this country to turn their back on those who are down and out, but I was sadly wrong.
23
We physicians all know that when kids aren't insured, the public still pays for their care. The difference is that the care comes late, and involves the Emergency Departments and hospitals, and the outcomes of this more expensive care are worse. They are written off as a loss by the institutions, and everyone else's costs go up. Those costs don't appear as a line item, though, so it's easy to duck the responsibility.
8
It's not the individual programs like this (Important one) where the REPUBLICAN Congress (It can not be said often enough. it is not "Congress", it is the REPUBLICANS in Congress) are failing all Americans in general by their actions.
The only people they seem interested in helping are their .01% "Donor Class".
Infrastructure? Jobs? Health Care? All the little federal programs that keep the system running, like the EPA and the National Park Service?
All to be defunded and sold off to the highest bidder in a private auction to our would be oligarchs.
5
The Republicans want to fund the chip program with offsets from Medicare. In other words, they want to take healthcare away from other people in order to give it to the children. I have a proposal for the Republicans, let's do an offset with the Pentagon, they seem to have money to burn. Besides, healthier children mean that they will have healthier cannon fodder for their future continuous wars. Win -win right?
3
If Schumer and Pelosi agree to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in any way shape or form in order to fund CHIP, it's over for the Democratic Party. Let the Republicans completely "own" their vicious and irresponsible tax cut for the rich and corporations. It's time for the Democratic Party to stand up and play the same hardball the Republicans have been successful in doing thus far. If they don't, it's one of the reason why they continue to lose elections.
35
. In a "mixed system" with both free-market and controlled health care prices like the USA, prices inexorably are driven upwards to the market level as long as demand is inelastic. Prices such as payments from Medicare that are "controlled" have to be increased continuously with legislation such as the "doctor-fix" to stay competitive with market prices. Medical prices can only be effectively controlled either by direct price controls as in Japan or with systems where everyone gets care for "free" from the government (Canada, UK, France). In those countries only the extremely wealthy can chose not to use the government paid health services that they have already paid for with their taxes and patronize the relatively small market-priced sector. In those countries, forgoing the government priced system is not an option for almost all doctors, as it is in the USA.
In some respects, free-market capitalism mixes with medical care almost as badly socialism mixes with agriculture. The economic failures of communism are well known, particularly the inability of state-run agriculture to provide even basic staples. In free markets "consumer sovereignty" directs the producers of goods and services to follow the dictates of supply and demand. As Adam Smith explained in 1776, no central authority coordinates the delivery of food and the plethora of goods that a major city like London needs every day. Rather, the "invisible hand" of competitive...."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1647632
2
The Republican's in Congress are not only failing the low-income children, they are failing the majority of working middle class Americans and it is an unconscionable disgrace.
It say volumes when you see them change their tunes one by one, as to the President's fitness for office, and come around to support a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans at a time it's not necessary or even good business sense, because it blows the deficit up by trillions of dollars.
These Republican's who won't spend the money where it is needed, decided to go back on all of their phony talk of fiscal conservatism to endow the wealthiest with a big bonus check written from the blood, sweat and tears of the people who break their backs trying to make ends meet by sometimes working multiple low paying jobs.
Greed has no conscience and the Republican's, along with Donald Trump have shown themselves to be real first class greedy money grubbers.
4
I remember when clown Reagan insisted on calling ketchup a "vegetable" to justify cuts in funding for school lunch programs, all to help finance tax cuts for his rich pals.
Some things never change.
6
I hope I am mistaken, but I don't think this Republican congress has any plans to fund CHIP. I imagine they are 'ideologically opposed'? Who knows, but how will it impact the fragile lives of children in a health crisis? My guess is that it will end badly, but have they thought of that? Do they even care? I cannot imagine this refusal, but here we are. They should be forced to spend just 1 hour in the company of the children and parents they are rejecting. But, this callous republican congress finally has control and they will not be confronted with anything real, and so it goes. The Trump administration and this Republican congress do not believe in mercy. This is a key Christian concept. Mercy for those in need. Shame.
4
Thank you, NYT, for making this issue an explanation of Republican policy. Children are only important if they vote, buy cars and put their money in normally conservative banks. If they don't do that, they can be left to die.
5
At this point there is no perceived GOP need to provide for our children. Just like the steady elimination of our minorities and refugees, our poor children will be pushed out of this country because they are not rich. They are attempting to eliminate all but the pure white among us. And they don't even treat all of them equally. Actually, it's all pure whites with money who will get the breaks. For a long time, it has been and still is money and power that matters to the Republicans. Their not about to give 'their' money to needy children or anyone else with needs.
1
There has always been evidence that Republicans create deficits to justify their need to cut social programs, why is beyond comprehension. Now we see they will use harming children to blackmail Congress to get these cuts. The Republicans just gave away over 1 trillion to the wealthiest Americans, that to them justifiable.
There is no doubt this is a deliberate act as plenty of time has passed for them to act.
Given all this Republicans and the wealthiest Americans should crawl into a hole because that’s where they belong!
4
Republicans could not care less about uninsured children, or anyone for that matter aside from their richest donors.
It would take a sick party to pass a multi-trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthiest while eliminating medical coverage for poor kids. And the GOP is.
3
The Republicans prove themselves to be more and more disgusting each day. It goes without saying, but here it goes anyway: it is particularly heinous to take away a program like CHIP because children are simply born. So we simply have to take care of them. Particularly those who are against abortion, since, in many cases they might not have been born to avoid living in difficult conditions. You can't have it both ways: if you want them all to be born, you have to take care of the ones who are born into horrible situations. The hypocrisy is astounding.
4
Multinational corporations had record profits and the top 0.1% had record stock market values but Republicans made a tax cut for corporations and the ultra-rich their highest priority. Did they really need a tax cut?
Meanwhile, 9,000,000 American children are losing their CHIP healthcare insurance, 700,000 young DACA people are risk of deportation to countries they have never known, and more than 40% of Puerto Ricans (all Americans) still lack electricity 112 days after Hurricane Maria made landfall.
Republicans have not yet acted to prevent a "partial" government shutdown.
Republicans have undermined Congressional investigations into Russian interference in our 2016 election.
Republicans have studiously ignored the obvious evidence of a President with impaired mental function, erratic behavior, and emolument issues.
Emoluments clause? 25th Amendment of the Constitution? Impeachment?
Honoring their oaths to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"?
Not these Republicans! Have they no shame?
4
It's still amazing to many of us in the world that leaders in America in 2018 are allowed by Americans to not even provide universal health care. Every excuse I've read is utterly lame. It's way past time to get with, at least the 1960's.
3
This is NOT by accident. As long as they have just enough poor, minority children to become soldiers, or otherwise serve in the Military, everyones Happy. Except the Kids, and they can't vote.
Thanks, GOP. NOVEMBER.
2
What kind of country, rich country, even questions taking care of it's poorer children?
3
Take off: 's children from the headline, and it is true every day. Just change the specifics for that moment.
Does it count as "failing" if you're doing it on purpose?
"Hostage-taking" of children, the disadvantaged, the most vulnerable, the voiceless, etc. is a critical element of the Trumpian/Republican cynical playbook. They will pay a steep price for this loathsome practice come November, when they lose their majority in one, possibly both, Houses of Congress. They are making themselves more and more isolated and irrelevant to America's increasingly diversified society. They are, literally and figuratively, a dying, outlying club.
Don't forget to go to church this Sunday, guys!
This failure is on the Republicans only. They control both houses of Congress and also occupy the White House. The Republicans found a way, without Democrats' supporting it, for a massive tax giveaway to their billionaire donors and their friends on Wall Street. Their interest in protecting children is nil. Contrary to the ogre Orrin Hatch's claim that there is " no money" for children's healthcare, the Republicans could have easily passed a renewal of CHIP, by reducing a portion of their massive tax giveaway to their donors,or by repealing the carried interest rule,as promised by Trump, or imposing a modest tax on Wall Street speculators, but were more interested in destroying the Affordable Care Act and the legacy of the first African American President. And, of course, the children, whom they are denying vital health care, don't vote.
3
The GOP is failing anyone that doesn't contribute a ton of money to them. One day the country will be like the bottom of the barrel third world countries with a small elite rich that milks the country for every dime they can (even though they don't need the money and couldn't possibly spend it in a lifetime) and the other 99% that struggle to survive day to day.
2
The Republican-led Congress does a great disservice to American families and children by failing to renew CHIP. Unfortunately, Republicans were far too focused on passing a tax bill to benefit the rich to consider CHIP before they broke for the holidays, and now, some are actually using CHIP for political leverage. When funding runs out and states are forced to freeze enrollment, families will not be able to pay. And it’s the children that will suffer. It’s time for Congress to renew funding for CHIP. The nine million children who rely on it deserve better.
-Frederick E. Kowal
President, United University Professions
1
The Republicans want to erase the many accomplishments of the President Obama administration, and this one has the added bonus of being a program that was created by Hillary Clinton. If we had elected Clinton, children, the elderly and everyone else would be on a path for better health care.
The Republican's decision to put the rich ahead of sick children is why I left the party. There no longer is any pretense of compassion or conservatism anymore, just power and the greed that drives it.
3
The only people Republicans in Congress are not failing are the fortunate few that are well-heeled.
2
This is part of the overwhelming desire to completely cut off social programs. Paul Ryan's political philosophy, from the despicable Ayn Rand, will require him to end social programs as the GOP tax cut explodes the deficit. I can already hear him or his cronies say, we can't afford to let this go on. This has been his plan all along. SAD.
2
Evidently the 1% is the highest priority for Republicans. They wasted precious time last year trying to take away healthcare from 21 million Americans; succeeded with taking it away from 13 million Americans; and for the icing on their cake, want to take it away from 9 million American poor children.
What will the Republican Congress do for an encore? Every Republican became a member of the Great American Death Panel by voting to give enormous tax breaks to the rich by taking away $338 billion from healthcare for 13 million American and raising premiums. The Great American Death Panel is still hard at work, trying to harm as many American citizens as possible.
Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Cory Gardner, John McCain - we placed our last hopes in you, and you failed us.
None of them care about the lives and suffering of Americans. They only care about lining the pockets of the wealthy and of themselves.
2
"Thus, funding CHIP for five additional years—reducing the number of children covered through the marketplaces—would result in a larger reduction in spending related to the marketplaces than in the prior estimate."
So less children will be covered by CHIP?
Once again Bernie Sanders was so right for medical coverage for all. If we are not ashamed of ourselves in front of the world nothing will ever shame us. The GOP cares about abortion so much to be used as a wedge issue, but when it comes to housing, feeding, medical coverage, veterans they are nowhere to be found except destroying programs that work. This is America but our children cant be taken care of unless thy are elites.
4
Tony, Bernie may have been correct but progressives worked very hard to make sure he has no power. At least that is the story we get from progressives.
Orin Hatch got we he wanted -- a big tax break for him and his friends -- and then announced his retirement while leaving our children in a dangerous lurch.
A quintessential Republican.
8
Why is everyone so unaware of the obvious? They’re negotiating a budget. CHIP is a bargaining chip to pressure Dems for defense or the wall. Republicans are counting on the fact that most mainstream front pages are going to be consumed by things like Michael Wollf’s book, and CHIP is going to be tsk-tsk’ed in Op-Eds. Rightfully so - I hear the most heartfelt upfront information about this on Kimmel. Dems can’t do much so liberal media and calls to Dem reps mean little; economically struggling people, including Trump supporters, don’t usually call their reps; and Sean Hannity’s too busy kissing up to the President to talk about kids unless it’s somehow to blame Dems for something the party with a clean majority won’t do. They expect they can run the country with 37% and .01% and it’s working, so why will they stop? If that liberal billionaire whats-his-face wants to do something useful, stop trying to impeach Trump and run an ad about CHIP.
3
There exists a growing body of research proving that children receiving Medicaid or CHIP experience benefits beyond improved health. Gains in school performance, educational attainment, and school attendance all contribute to greater economic well being and productivity for our economy in the long term.
It’s only a matter of time before the GOP suggests a work requirement for kids on CHIP.
14
Where there is no vision a people perish.
Let US imagine a country where everyone can go to the doctor, dentist, optometrist, ophthalmologist, hospital, or wellness center at no cost. No deductibles, no co-pays, no insurance premiums. Let US imagine a society that understands that health care is a universal human right. Let US imagine a government that sees healthcare for ALL people living in the country as a matter if distributive justice, that it promotes the general welfare, that it is a blessing of liberty.
What kind of tax system will get US to that goal? The GOP does not understand healthcare as a universal human right that governments exist to secure.
The good news is that We get to overthrow the government in November.
Give control of Congress to the Democrats in November.
Send Trump home in 2020.
The United States is US. We get the government we deserve.
15
Yes , you are so right. Trump and the swamp creatures of this administration and the politicians who enable them need to go starting in November. The real Americans need not this base of hate he is constantly referring to. Who are these people who would let babies starve or be cold, who are they? Who is Paul Ryan what has he done to help all of the citizens?
We need to be in the streets, town hall meeting, school meetings to stop this onslaught of big money and ignorance that has taken over this country.
1
What you describe is what exists every else in the world in countries that at least have stop lights. Except, of course, the US. And they all cost half as much or less, and they all have better outcomes on life expectancy, infant mortality, and maternal mortality. The stupidity of America on this question is simply beyond comprehension, and the Republican Party's gaming with it is simply sinful.
2
This is just one of the first indications of what Republicans plan to do with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and probably Veterans health and benefit programs if they are allowed to remain in control of the Congress and the purse. It's time to wake up, America.
16
While it's not going to happen, it's time to extend CHP to ALL American children 18 and younger. This is a no-brainer. First, by covering everyone nobody can complain about it only helping those 'other' people. Second, by including in Medicare CMS can apply standard prices and methods for payments, and the marginal cost for adding more beneficiaries is not very high (meaning administrative costs are low). But how to pay for it? Perhaps it's 90B per year. That's less than the tax cut. Businesses will be big beneficiaries since many already cover at least part of the cost of insurance for children. It can probably be 'paid for' by increasing the corporate and personal income tax rates by 1%. Salaries should increase because businesses will be spending less on insurance. It's time- it's just plain silly to blame a 6 year old because their parent isn't wealthy. And healthy children find it easier to learn and will do better at school and increase their chances of success in the future. Just do it already.
7
Part of the equation is controlling healthcare costs. Politically a heavy lift, but realistically more than half the solution to our healthcare dilemmas. As we just keep working on how to pay for it, healthcare just keeps on getting more unaffordable.
4
I have an idea: we can save a trillion dollars a year by getting rid of for-profit insurance and covering everybody for basically every thing, few questions asked.
2
The perennial question is how is talking away health care from millions of America's most vulnerable and precious citizens consistent with President Trump's goal of making it great again?
President Trump and the GOP unilaterally just added at least $1.5 Trillion in deficits to the federal budget for tax cuts which will disproportionately accrue to the benefit of foreign/domestic-based corporations and the very top of the economic pyramid under the dubious rationale of GDP growth. Yet, providing health care for millions of American children, many of whose parents voted for Mr. Trump and the GOP last November, seems NOT to be on their grand agenda of restoring America's greatness.
It is extremely difficult to reconcile using the word "great" in describing a country which deliberately neglects or holds hostage for political reasons the health of its future generations.
4
Remember: it’s not only CHIP that’s at stake here. Federally funded Community Health Centers (CHCs) provide primary health care to 27 million residents of both rural and urban areas across America. Congress has also failed to reauthorize 70% of CHC funding which, like CHIP, expired on October 1st. Insurance and access go hand in hand. CHCs provide primary and preventive medical, behavioral health, dental and support services to anyone, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay, including millions of Medicaid and CHIP insured patients. The upfront investment of federal dollars not only saves lives, but saves money by ensuring that patients have access to preventive services, care for chronic health conditions, affordable medications and care coordination, and preventing unnecessary and costly use of emergency departments. Congress needs to stop playing games with the lives of children and adults alike and act to reauthorize both CHIP and CHC funding at full levels.
5
To Republicans, the country is divided into poor people and not-poor people and age does not matter. They do not care about poor people. For them, poor people are just cost centers. And they know that poor people do not vote for Republicans. So poor people serve neither to advance the interests of Republicans' wealthy masters nor do they serve to advance Republicans' reelection needs. Is it cruel and heartless to deprive these children of health care? Of course it is, but that's not part of Republicans' value system.
40
Sadly, a lotto poor people do vote for Republicans. Up here in Maine where the general population voted to expand Medicaid because we have many rural poor, it was the poor counties that voted it down. And guess where the for-profit hospitals are cutting services if not closing down altogether!
The headline is not supported by the facts of the story. The Republicans will approve CHIP if the cost is offset. The Democrats will approve it if the cost is not offset. Obviously, both parties are failing our children by arguing over what we learn late in the editorial is a tiny offset. Where I come from, there are no good guys here and the bad guys are wearing both red and blue.
6
No, this is totally on the Republicans. They dominate Congress and they blackmail the Democrats with the renewal of CHIP. And the costs of emergency care are way higher than timely health care for kids. So what's being offset here? What kind of society does not provide for its children?
4
Michjas, your comments are not supported by the facts of the "story" (column). The fact is that Republicans will approve CHIP if and only if the cost is offset by cuts to Medicare and public health programs. This is simply hostage taking, just as President Trump is holding DACA hostage to extract approval of his multi-billion dollar Mexican boarder wall. It is not an outreach to bipartisanship when non-negotiable terms become a condition for participation of Democrats in the outcome.
2
The Republicans had no trouble qualms about passing a tax cut that primarily benefits corporations and wealthier people despite it adding to the deficit. You need to keep that context in mind when looking at other programs like CHIP. You might say that the tax cuts will pay for themselves through growth, but we all know that's a canard.
4
And yet we are still planning to build "The Wall". Got to pay for it somehow.
9
Once, while on grand rounds in NYC, I heard a noted schizophrenia researcher and administrator drop his guard, put on his administrator hat, and admit to a pointed question that yes, a certain pending policy might save a great deal of money by allowing a "select" few schizophrenia patients to, um, just die.
This is our Congress today: a body filled with infinite compassion and empathy for the extremely wealthy and the way they suffer at the hands of government. And a massive and corresponding inability to see anyone in need of help or a hand up as anything but a statistic, one that started out too big and now threatens to swamp those poor rich living precariously at the top of the heap.
This is America today. America the mocked and despised. America the laughed at and avoided whenever possible. America in the hand of heedless, nearly mindless Republicans in really expensive suits with no care for anyone they have to look down to see.
So of course they let CHIP languish. It's just another government abomination that, as far as they can tell, doesn't really do any good for any body.
16
America is still a standout among countries. You don't know racism unless you have lived in Europe or for that matter the Philippines. We have opened up our hearts repeatedly to help people from other countries. Now, when we have a government that believes we should play by the agreed upon rules, we are bad people. This is very unfair. Those people who complain about this are really only looking for votes to change what America is and transfer our wealth to poor countries that have made very bad decisions or rich Asian countries who take advantage of trade agreements negotiated by clueless elitist.
1
It benefits all of us when children are healthy (and fed). They miss fewer school days, they pay attention in class, they don't infect others, their little colds don't become big pneumonia, they're more fun to have around. Get a clue, Congress.
18
Not one single poor child has ever donated a Million dollars to a politician. Of course the politicians have to take care of their donors first. That is why we can afford a $2 trillion tax cut for the richest Americans but can't come up with the chump change to provide health care to poor kids.
31
The Republicans can't go much lower than this or can they?
25
Oh they can.
3
CHIP is a lifesaver for kid's health, and the economy, when compared to the G.O.P. outrageous increase in the national debt to satisfy 'god greed' for republican donors. Can't we smell a whiff of hypocrisy here, given that the republicans, all millionaires, take health care for their own for granted? And cruelty is not far off, all in the name of 'politicking'. Too bad one has to wait for the voting booth to open...to throw out these 'unrepresentative' self-serving politicians in congress.
7
Not only Trump but the the repubs are completely complicit in making America worse again. The party of values? Their intransigence in this matter speaks plenty to the kind of values they cherish: you pay or you perish.
9
The GOP: pro-life from conception to birth. After that, kid, you’re on your own. Sweep the doctor’s office if you want health care.
16
There goes nine million votes.
3
@ Rodrian Roadeye: And their family's votes... straight to the Dems!
Here’s how this looks: your neighbor wants his house painted, kidnaps your kids, and says you can have them back if you’ll paint his house. Your neighbor is a Republican in Congress.
16
Politicians' children don't suffer lack of medical attention, so why should they care about others (unless, of course, they're Christians)?
6
But if they are Christian’s, God will take care of the kids, correct?
Or accept them into heaven.
1. Make family planning, choice and reproductive health difficult, if not impossible to access.
2. Make health care for the resulting children more difficult to access.
3. End goal: ??? Sit back and enjoy the sight of sick and starving children?
I'll never understand Republicans. Ever.
52
@Allecram Well said, thank you. There is a deep misogynistic streak in the GOP and anti-choice policies always result in suffering. They are as cruel as can be. I suppose some people think that a hungry, neglected or abused child is better than one who was never conceived or born. The rest don't think at all.
Q. What aren't Republicans in Congress failing at?
Ans. Destroying the country.
9
A blurb from another publication reads, "American kids are 70 percent more likely to die before aduthood than kids in other rich countries." I don't know what thast says to you but to me that says we have a sight more desperately poor struggling to survive on the droppings from the rich.
In addition we have probably as many guns as cars which claim our young people. For shame.
12
I thought "Republicans in Congress Are Failing" was all the headline you needed.
5
Republicans call themselves the "family values' party", I don't think so. I also notice the so called" non" religious right are not speaking out about taking care of and looking out for children. What a bunch of hypocrites, they are not interested in looking at what the bible says about the poor, they don't care about the welfare of children, they are only about the money and the power.
9
Republicans have shown time and again they support life...they just don't support feeding, housing and clothing that same life once it's born.
15
I find the glee of the GOP over passing a tax cut for their "donor class" including a few gimmicks to keep Trump's base happy. Trump's base are for the most part not benefiting from the "stock market boom" he delights in taking sole credit for. These poor kids requiring health care will be denied unless Chip funds are renewed. Do the GOP congressmen feel passing on funds to the 1% and foreign stock holders are more important than American children ?
9
"Pass me some more Champagne Biff, the Republican Tax Cut went through and we will now inherit ALL of Mummy's money, or should I say ALL of Gran-papa's money. I do wonder where the money will come from though... well Nevermind, that is not our concern."
Never underestimate the Republican resolve to serve the rich by stealing from the poor. CHIP, DACA, Headstart, Medicaid, and many more "safety net" programs are at risk in the pursuit of lower taxes and THE WALL. Soon it will be time for Republican speeches about the danger of the deficit in order to justify the cuts to social programs that are inevitably coming. There may be lots of talk about the Middle Class, but we all know it will be America's most vulnerable who will pay the price.
10
The United States spends twice as much as other developed countries on health care 18% of the GDP as climbing
I understand that people with less declared income want free health care for their kids, and medical professionals, medical products companies and insurance companies want those healthcare dollars. We also know that health insurance for most of the middle-class has become insurance in-name-only.
Perhaps the medical industry can give a break to those unable to pay, or perhaps some of these parents can participate in a work for care program.
There needs to be some accountability where all of these CHIPs dollars go
3
Excuse me? Those parents are working, to the bond in most cases. If they weren't their children would on Medicaid.
And CHIP has exactly nothing to do with rising health care costs. Nothing.
1
Rescind child labor laws. Make those tiny parasites work for their health care. A true Randian solution, put the burden on the burdensome.
2
Nice try at an excuse for an act of great cruelty. Better luck next time.
John Adams: "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it."
Above is what one (and probably all) founding father felt about our government. It is now time to "reform, alter or totally change" the people in power to form a more perfect union.........a union between the government and the people for whom it should be working.
11
Paying lip service, legislators recite the cliche' that "Our children are our future".
Reality check: While many children are born into and raised in financially stable households, about as many are not. Many parents provide family plan healthcare, many cannot or do not. Some parents do not work and instead can focus on their pre-school and school aged-kids, many work, and cannot or do not. This places a significant portion of 'our future' at risk.
We cut taxes for the rich, whose children have health care, but cannot spare $3 B for 'our future'? Build bombers and walls, but not better health care? Poor choices. Pay it now or pay much more later. And do not ask for this grandfather's vote.
98
The Rs running the show have kids who they presumably care about. Their kids are all set in terms of health coverage, and will never be in need of CHIP.
They associate such funding with the dreaded "other" (This "other" mind set turns its back, to varying degrees, on women, refugees, immigrants, and anyone who is not "like them."
In a nation whose leaders cared about other people's children, CHIP would be a given, as would priority investment in education, as well as safe food, clean air and water.
Indeed, in a world that actually cared about other people's kids, there could never be a war.
3
Our children need to learn: Unless they hire lobbyists and make generous campaign contributions, Republicans will ignore their interests entirely.
5
Glad the headline has this right.
It is not congress as a whole failing the country. Just Republicans.
We have to minimize the damage they do until next January. EVERY American that loves this country will vote a straight Democratic ticket this November.
5
I know The New York Times is a liberal haven, and liberals believe in taking care of people, which is a good thing, but what about personal responsibility? Since the economic crash in 2008, my employer went out of business, and I have had to accept a 40% pay cut. Now, I cannot afford health insurance, yet pay a penalty so others can have this vital necessity. What about people like me – tens of millions of working adults, who pay into the system, yet have NEVER received a dime of welfare? Are we seriously supposed to be upset about people who cannot realistically afford to support a family not getting what they need from us? I am a conservative who knows that a person should carry her own weight, and yes, if she suffers a temporary hardship, she should get help. But having children when you cannot afford to even properly support yourself does not earn you my sympathy. As long as I do not have even the most basic necessities, and I am far from alone in this, I cannot devote much time worrying whether people who have taken much more than they have contributed to this country get what they “need”. In this way at least, Republicans seem to be doing their jobs and adhering to their constituent’s ideals.
2
The .01% are the undeserving that have taken much more than they have contributed. Having inherited everything, and producing nothing, they live fabulously by having the Republican administration collect rent for them. The least they can do is help prevent their less fortunate serfs from succumbing to disease.
And although I, too, believe in personal responsibility, it's hard for children to come up with the $10,000/yr they'd need for health insurance in our current market. Cutting off parents from the CHIP program doesn't mean they are suddenly going to "become responsible" and start being able to afford private insurance for their children, although I'm sure they all would love to be in a financial position where they could do so. (If it was easy to make money, you wouldn't still be complaining about the pay cut you took in 2008...) No doubt there are some lazy, irresponsible, undeserving parents, and consequently there is some waste in the system. Try to accept the fact that in any large enterprise, there will be some waste. I'm pretty sure 98% of the people receiving CHIP benefits need and appreciate the help.
31
According to your post insurance costs $10,000 a year per person. Is that really affordable healthcare? We will not even get to the quality issue.
2
Why didn't those children choose better parents, am I right? Being too LAZY to be born to the rich, surely they deserve their death from infected teeth and untreated ear infections! That's the only way to incentivize newborns to make sure they end up with that silver spoon!
4
Completely outrageous…..this is just another example (and the list is long) of the insensitivity of the President and GOP and their laissez-faire policy against the middle class, the poor and elderly. In their infinite wisdom, they decide to pick on the most innocent, vulnerable and defenseless in our society….the children.
These are children in need of the health care CHIP provides and the government decides not to act and take vacation. Yet, they diabolically managed to pull off the largest rip-off in America with their tax cuts to the rich at records speeds which even Olympic runners could not match.
5
Maybe the massive Republican tax cut for corporations means that there is no money left in the budget to fund health insurance for 9 million poor american children. Doesn't it make sense to give more of our countries resources to the rich and powerful corp's instead of the poor.
2
Ok. So what are these low-income families doing to change it?
1
Like what? Win the lottery????
Not reauthorizing CHIP would be cruel. Sadly, this will reflect the will of the Republican base.
2
It's obvious that Republican/Conservative politicians don't care about children's health. Heck, they don't care about the health of adults either.
As for republican/conservative people, I'm beginning to believe that they 1) are identical to their politicians and don't care about children or, 2) they simply don't understand what their elected officials are doing.
My question is, what do Americans really want? Do they want a country where we actually pay the price and cover our fellow citizens with a reasonable safety network or should we simply cut everyone loose?
3
Republicans in Congress are failing children, adolescents, adults and seniors...
5
The majority in congress is a constant, complete, depraved, and utter disgrace.
5
...and all the rest of us not in the top .001%
1
Criminal to deprive children of even basic needs. Every elected official who sits still for this should resign. Please.
7
NYT editorial board fails to observe a paradigm shift taking place in the 21st Century.
The USA no longer gains benefit from a Central Bureaucracy micromanaging every detail of our lives, 1930s New Deal style.
The USA contains more than 300Million people....the task from WashDC is simply overwhelming......unless of course we honestly want to become more like China, which is also experiencing fractures in its own lock step central bureaucracy.
.....
National Health Care Systems, if given objective analysis, begin to fail when the overarching bureaucracy attempts to manage too many people. The whole "electronic records keeping" process has proven to benefit NOBODY...except the silicon valley robber barons that cooked up the scheme in the first place.
....
The true challenge in the USA is how to return LOCAL control of health care and at the same time create a National Standard of achievable Health Care. There seems to be no practical purpose served by allowing WashDC politicians to control the flow of money and resources with out more separation of powers(hint....that is the secret to USA's success......"separation of power")
1
Republicans have been failing everyone but the wealthy and corporations for decades, yet they still win elections. The public sure is easy to fool and the Democrats sure love that corporate cash too. The best government money can buy.
2
Republicans don't want poor children who grow up to be poor in health as adults. They want strong bodied poor people so they can be just healthy enough to work for the lowest possible wage and not be vulnerable to the chronic illnesses caused by malnutrition and untreated childhood illnesses and accidents. Even the slave owners knew that much!
3
Children don't really count with the GOP congress. "Wealthy donors" are the only ones to whom they give fealty. They'd rather see American children die than for the wealthy to go without more money. They are traitors to our country, as evidenced in their relentless attacks on the electorate.
4
Throwing nine million children into the trash heap of society. Way to go GOP! Way to insure the future of our nation. But then again, the actions of the Republicans in Congress, and our President (who from the video of last nights National Championship football game, does not know the words to our national anthem) over the past year have shown that they do not care about the future of our nation. It’s all about them, and how much money they can make for themselves – now and in the future when they get voted out of office.
9
Let kids be sick, let the elderly die from disease as our public health systems deteriorate. It's important to keep GOP values in perspective -- the top .1% of the 1% must have more cake!
4
The "Party of Family Values" only cares about children while they're in the womb. Once born, they're on their own. The GOP has not only failed children, it has failed the sick, the poor, the middle class, scientists, dreamer kids, non-whites, war refugees, hardworking immigrants and most other sectors that comprise 99% of the population. The only sector it has not failed is the top 1% and polluting industries.
17
The health and welfare of American citizens, from the youngest to the oldest, is of absolutely no interest, no concern for the Republican Party. More important things --assaulting science, theocratizing government, punching thousands of more holes in Earth's crust, kissing the rings on donors feet-- must be attended to before all else. The single most important priority? Keeping Trump in office.
5
From the party that believes life begins at conception and the most important protection for children is while they're in the womb. After that, not so much.
Such hypocrisy. No money or care for children after they're born. But we have unlimited funds for Billionaire/Political Donor Tax give alway and $18 billion for a border wall while our infrastructure crumbles around us.
Yeah way to go making America Great Again
9
Ayn Rand would not like CHIP. So Republicans don't like CHIP. Our children's health is in the thrall of a paranoid mediocre novelist whose traumatic experiences in the Soviet Union left her unable to see that every government program or regulation is not, in fact, the first step toward tyranny. There was ample reason to pity her. There is no reason to follow her.
Wherever you are, even in the middle of the country, please never take a single step toward the east or west, no matter how beneficial it may seem to you. It's the first step toward drowning in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
4
This has to be the most mean-spirited grab so far by the Republicans. The richest country on Earth, throwing poor children under the bus so the rich can get a tax cut. It's disgusting.
Perhaps, since 37% of the families enrolled in the CHIP program are Hispanic, they will say they are using the CHIP money to build a wall, and that is how Mexico is paying for it. ( mI apologize if I made Paul Ryan smile...)
Liam Jumper in todays comments brings up an excellent question as to why the men and women in our armed forces are willing to puts their lives on the line for this particular commander in chief.
5
Nothing says more about a country's priorities than a government that "plays politics" by rewarding huge corporations and punishing sick children.
6
Conservatives are pro-life until the moment of birth. After that you are on your own unless you are born into a family that donates lots of money to conservatives and their causes.
3
The Republican party is very sick, in need of urgent care. It's a moral sickness that's rotting the body of the party deep in its bones The Republican party is going to let innocent children lose insurance and go without needed medical care, vaccines, check-ups. Our whole population will suffer, as diseases spread and problems left untreated turn into disasters. Why, oh why, did anyone ever vote for these Vandals who are tearing apart our people? Who will save the children??
4
You know, there's an old-fashioned concept in religion called "sin." Most of us thought we could move past that concept in a modern world, but what has been going on with Republicans in Congress this past year qualifies for pulling that old concept back out of the garage. Republicans are giving sin a fresh new shine when they give tax cuts to billionaires and withhold medical care to children. Shame, shame on you.
10
I thought the New York Times was going to be expressing budget figures as a percentage of the budget, rather than in just raw dollars which are basically meaningless for most of us average folks...?
1
The Republicans have absolutely no shame, and frankly, not much evidence of a moral center whatsoever. Using CHIP as a bargaining, well, *chip*, is beyond disgusting. The people have given up any claim to whatever moral high ground they think they own, or won in the last elections.
Dems, do your duty. Hammer the other party for this despicable behavior in every possible venue. Keep throwing light on this over, and over, and over, and over again. If you can't or won't do this, don't be surprised at the outcome of the 2018.
5
Republicans tried to reauthorize CHIP in November. it was voted against, therefore blocked, three times by Democrats.
It has some stopgap funding now. The complete bill, by Senators Hatch and Wyden, should hit the floor in January.
NYT and its readers love to blame Republicans for everything.
1
Put the 145 B /ten years for CHIP into perspective.
Not taxing all dividends and capital gains as ordinary income costs 160 B /year or 1.6 T / ten years.
Not taxing unrealized capital gains at death [step up in basis] costs 40 B /year or 400 B /ten years.
A question of priorities.
26
Health groups blasted the Republican-led Congress last month (while they were busy passing a massive tax for the wealthy) for approving only enough funding to pay for children’s health insurance through March, leaving doctors and their patients in limbo. The CHIP) was established with bipartisan Congressional support in 1997 to provide coverage for uninsured children who are low-income, but above the cut-off for Medicaid eligibility and now this vital program is in danger under the Republicans even though the effectiveness of this program has been confirmed by several studies. Asthma, one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in children, has disproportionately adverse impacts on low-income and minority children. A before-after study of children with asthma who were newly enrolled in New York’s CHIP program found improvements in their access to asthma care and the quality of their asthma care. Asthma attacks and asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations among the children fell markedly and three-quarters of parents reported that their child’s asthma was better or much better after one year in CHIP.
34
While most American support the idea of CHIP, they vote based on bound ideology, not issues. Americans voted for legislators who made no secret of their contempt for health care for the less affluent.
The American public voted for a GOP Congress and is ultimately complicit, even responsible, for the stalling of such a program that doesn't need to exist in any other modern and progressive country with ample wealth which takes care of all citizens, even the vulnerable.
35
Before you blame "the American public" again, look up the word "gerrymandering". Most Americans didn't vote for a GOP congress.
You have smeared the entire American people when most of us were NOT complicit.
3
If most Americans did not for for a GOP congress or GOP president, then the results underscore a serious flaw in the US electoral process -where those with the fewest votes win.
4 times in US history has a president (GOP) won while losing the popular vote. If Americans refuse to change that system, then they are complicit and wiling to tolerate it through passive endorsement.
If most Americans support health insurance for poor kids, like they allegedly do for universal background checks (a reasonable assumption by any world standards), the opposing legislation defies the will of the people but is likely consistent with their thoughts in the voting booth.
1
To paraphrase John Jay, the current Republican stance is not just that "those who own the country ought to govern it," but that those who own it ought to govern it for their own profit.
Hence it follows that Middle Class tax breaks for home ownership, and casualty losses for a vast number of Americans ought to end to decrease corporate taxes.
So it follows that children's insurance, and Medicaid and Medicare ought to be sacrificed for the greater good of the deficit, so that corporate taxes can remain low.
Do not like it? Well, I hope those parents vote their interest in the next elections as opposed to relying on the good feelings of the Democratic Party, Many parents voted for Mr. Trump and for an agenda exactly like this.
Cruel yes certainly --but elections have consequences.
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America continues to abandon it's most precious resource; our children. Instead of adequately funding education or health care we are subverting funds for those who want taxpayers dollars to support their private schools and other "investment opportunities". Children need good health to perform well in school. We're failing our children in health care which will become a burden to hospitals who will needlessly have to take care of children in an emergency room setting in absence of CHIP. This will not save money and it risk the health and well being of children who are our future. The greed of today will negatively impact this nation for generations to come.
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And they abandon anyone who isn't rich enough which is 99% of the population. Most of us work pretty hard, want to support ourselves and our families, improve our lives and our children's lives but we can't with the policies that past and present administrations have had. Americans need to learn that rugged individualism is useless when it comes to today's world. It's about cooperation, helping each other, and sharing. Come to think of it, it's always been about that, even when America was first starting.
1
Republicans continue to abandon a resource they do not care about: our children.
1
These children in families without affordable health care will be adults someday, even if they’ll need luck to grow up healthy. As future voters, I hope their parents teach them never to forget the anxiety crass Republicans cast over their youth.
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I don't know what more to say. We see kids who have been screened by their pediatricians for eye exams. It isn't just a matter of getting glasses - these kids can have vision problems that shut down brain nerve development for one eye. All they need is to have one eye significantly stronger than the other, or to be very farsighted.
A few visits to the eye doctor and we permanently save a child's vision.
Imagine what the pediatricians are accomplishing.
But these same kids go untested if the parents can't afford to bring them to us, to purchase the glasses, or even to afford the pediatrician well visit in the first place.
Is it really to much to ask that we protect our nation's children?
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Just think, if the U.S cut it's defense budget down to that of China for a single year...
It would fund CHIP for half a century!
The same could probably achieve even more if the profits that businesses have been withholding overseas for years to avoid paying any Federal business tax...actually paid the 35 % Tax owing (plus fines for failure to pay promptly) that would fund 100 YEARS of CHIP!
However, the Government has decided to reward those who have kept their Profits overseas by making them pay only 8% Tax on them so they will repatriate the cash at long last.
Then of course a further reward will be given to them as permanent Tax cuts from 35% to 21%...That will teach them to not pay the tax they should have paid...I wonder what would happen if Citizens delayed their Taxes for years and waited for an amnesty on the piling up money before paying it to the IRS?
Maybe Bountiful Business could donate some of their 27% Tax reduced Trillions to CHIP to help fund Children's health...?
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Republicans are using our kids, Salvadorans, and DACA recipients as bargaining chips for the budget bill they want passed. They have already muscled through a tax bill that will hurt the elderly, ill and poor. I need the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to know that I will not vote democratic again if they fold and allow any of these groups to be punished. If the government can't work for the people and do the right thing, it ought to be shut down, permanently. That's why our fore bearers fought a revolution. Remember?
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If Americans want to fight a revolution it must be at the ballot box, please don’t give up that’s just how the American experiment will die.
@Patrick Stevens, you rightly identify Republicans as the villains. Yet, if they succeed, you say you will not vote Democratic again. A bit illogical, don't you think?I understand that you want the Democrats to fight hard against the terrible Republican agenda, but deciding not to vote for the only people capable of stopping them is not the solution.
All our children should be insured, and with CHIP, most are. Eliminating CHIP is clearly a mistake. But is it a travesty? Keep in mind that any serious health matter would almost surely drop the family's income to Medicaid level. So what is at stake is mostly routine care. That includes check-ups and shots. The family will likely cut back on check-ups. Shots are required and will have to be paid for. Emergencies can be handled free at the local hospital. For most kids, there isn't much else. I don't like this any better than you. But I don't think it's anything to get hysterical about.
1
It is not only America's children Republicans are failing. The GOP has been in concert with the worse president in history, enacting draconian measures against all social programs.
Republicans just don't like people who they deem "takers". They like "givers". The powerful 1% who "give" most generously to politicians who look out for their "special needs", like tax cuts, and a massive dose of tax loopholes passed in the middle of the night designed to enhance the wealth of the already extremely wealthy.
If ever there was a time for this nation to wake up and get its act together and resolve itself to start electing progressive politicians who promise to herald in a New New Deal in the mold of FDR, it is now. The original New Deal was when, for the first time in this country, the average American began to feel they mattered, that their sacrifice, and toil, blood, sweat, and tears saw some reward, ie. Social Security and the vast array of alphabet soup programs FDR instituted to lift this nation out of the Great Depression.
The Great Depression the United States faces today does not sprout from a monetary source but a psychological one. When people who work hard and play by the rules have the rules change in the middle of the game to their disfavor, this leads to psychological breakdown, a malaise of the soul, a learned hopelessness. Thus we see a preponderance of depressed souls turning to addiction to escape. We must do something soon to halt this slide.
DD
Manhattan
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Thank you, DD. Democrats need to admit publicly that they have badly failed rural America. This last election should have been the wake-up call, but urban politicians and voters do not see the crisis, the poverty, and the hopelessness. Progressives need to start seeing rural, poor Americans also as Americans in peril who need the nation's help during these hard times. A rural Marshall Plan would not only be good politics. It would also be the moral, compassionate thing to do. If Democrats started meeting this need with real proposals instead of Republican empty slogans and dog whistles, we could help create better lives for those in our neglected rural areas.
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Of course all children should be insured. That doesn’t however address the issue that one out of every two children born is paid for with welfare.
A lot of working people don’t have children or have fewer than they want because they can’t afford to. Yet, that seems to be less of a consideration for many of those receiving welfare.
The republicans seem to be saying you are free to do what you want, but don’t expect us to pick up the tab. The progressives you are free to do what you want, and we will make others pay to cover your costs.
Is there anyone out there who will stop telling the poorest and least able that their plight is because of the greed of others – usually taken to mean white people. The reality is that the American people work harder than most people in the world and are very generous. They are taxed heavily to support the 1 out of 2 – born to welfare.
I submit that if we stopped telling people they are victims, and showed them their cost to the rest of society and the sacrifices being made for them, they would realize that having 1 rather than 3 or more, they could provide better and society could provide better for their children.
In other words it is not unfair to ask the poorest to have kids in the same numbers the non poor are.
Put forth a plan to keep the amount of taxes allotted to the poor the same even if they have fewer kids. Then for instance, if 1 instead of 2, there would be twice the amount available for them, from school to medical costs.
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Universal health care would control costs and help people to become more productive. This makes your "welfare queen" argument moot. Education would be a more important contributor to making more people productive than punitively punishing children. Creationist mumbo jumbo and denial of science is not education so the desire of the GOP to have productive and contributing people is a lie. They want brainwashed slaves. Indeed, desparate and beaten people make the best slaves.
Beyond a certain level of wealth one must ask what is the additional wealth for. It seems to me it is simply a game that allows certain weak and insecure people to pretend they are superior. In Trumps case it is likely he simply wants to be cruel and torture people because that is all he does. One cannot be above the laws until you have enough money.
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It is really odd that you don't mention the Republicans vendetta against making family planning available to those in need, the very people you are talking about!
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It would be helpful to cover birth control to advance that agenda.
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Could there be anything MORE pro-life than the CHIP program? I don't know why Republicans aren't all over this one trying to maintain a program that they clearly didn't object to when it was initiated. Or is the new GOP argument that the kids aren't working hard enough to get insurance themselves, so we're not going to subsidize those slackers?
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Appears that is case. Orrin Hatch (a co-sponsor of the original legislation) was quoted saying something along the lines of "tired of providing handouts for people who don't work". Clearly fits the current Republican narrative which is that anyone on any form of assistance is not working....so very wrong...
Republicans aren’t “pro-life”. They are “anti-abortion”. Big difference.
1
That's where you make the mistake. Republicans are not pro-life. They're just pro-birth. After that you're on your own.
"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."
Sister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B.,
2
Alas, so it begins: the evisceration of programs that benefit the poor and needy.
This is the result of what I call the TTP: Trumpublican Tax Plan:
steal from the poor, give to the rich
cut social benefits
make our children's children's children pay for it
As somebody has said...so sad
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Appalling. How is it that the wealthiest nation on the planet refuses to pay for universal health care for its children? Have our politicians no conscience left? Or has that too been sold to the highest bidder?
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CHIP should be structured as loans given to parents to buy insurance, not as giveaways. Ultimately parents are responsible to pull their own weight and pay for their own kids. Throwing the cost on the rest of us who do pay for our kids makes them nothing more than deadbeats.
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Do you return your tax credits and exemptions for your kids? Do you pay back your childless neighbors the property taxes they pay for your kids education? Who is the real deadbeat?
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This editorial makes a far more eloquent case than anything I can add to this conversation. I would only add that the Republican Party has proven itself roundly to hate its own citizens who live on the financial margins of society. Recall Representative Mo Brooks' (R-AL) remark that only people with unsavory lifestyles suffer pre-existing conditions.
Tell that to a child born with Downs syndrome, spina bifida or hemophilia.
Then, of course, "reasonable" GOP Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah declared during a CHIP debate, "I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves – won’t lift a finger – and expect the federal government to do everything."
And Senator Hatch believes that *he's* the one having a rough time.
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They don't care. They aren't bothered. It's not their problem. If these were rich children it would be their problem, but they aren't and thus they aren't. The surplus population can't disappear fast enough for them and what ever hastens it along is all to the good.
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Well then, what are those that do care doing about it?
If these were rich children, they would not need help from our government. So again, the GOP can run roughshod over our middle and lower class citizens and the rich will applaud.
1
RE: If these were rich children, they would not need help from our government.
Except that is exactly what the Republican government did with the latest tax plan by insuring the wealthy got more, had better breaks, and eliminated the estate tax.
Pray tell, who—beyond their most wealthy donors—are Republicans in Congress (or in the White House) NOT failing? Their inaction or indifference when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us speaks to their utter indecency. What do Republicans see when they look in the mirror?
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No. No negotiation. No concessions. If CHIP falls, then it falls squarely on the heads of the Republican congress. It is long past time to stop giving Republicans everything they want and more in exchange for a few pittances of basic human rights. All of CHIP, just as it was before, or nothing. The time for negotiation ended in 2010, it's long dead now.
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"For some families, the program, which costs them nothing or very little, is essential." There it is, editorial board. Republicans are so hard-hearted, stern and unforgiving when it comes to government caring for people who have little or nothing. These families are, as Mitt Romney once famously remarked (behind closed doors) "moochers."
It's difficult for me to see how the extremely wealthy, whose money seems to have no end and have just been gifted with a tax cut that they didn't need, aren't anything but "moochers." They take without giving. They do not work. They do no invest their considerable wealth into the commonweal. They do nothing but send their money out of the country, beyond the reach of the tax assessors. They are the least patriotic of Americans.
Utah's retiring Orrin Hatch recently brushed aside a reporter's question about CHIP. "There's no money," the honorable senator said, mirroring the fuming annoyance of his colleagues in the upper chamber who have greater things to think about than nine million children, our country's future, whose families
need continued subsidies if they are to maintain even the thinnest edge over an unplanned illness or an accident.
Meanwhile, the rich, on the sunny side of the street, their children free of the assorted illnesses associated with childhood, continue to live off the work that others do, their labor unrewarded. Unless it's to service the already wealthy.
Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan tell us to "get over it."
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And one of the parents who came to Washington DC to plead for this funding because she has two very ill children is a Mormon from Utah.
This heartbreaking travesty should be no surprise. That Republican believe that health care is a privilege for the rich, and not a right or a need is blatantly obvious. As a therapist working with families, I helped parents who didn't know about CHIP get enrolled. Have you ever seen a child who had a seizure because his high fever went untreated? Or a child with meningitis feverishly lying on the couch because health care was too expensive and the parents didn't know what was wrong and figured it would pass? I have. It's awful to see sick children suffer needless complications because their parents committed the crime of being poor. Every congressperson should be required to spend a year working with needy children and families. Then, having acquired experience in the world, they can cut their budgets with the knowledge of what they are doing.
Republicans want democrats to make a "Sophie's choice". They will fund CHIP if Democrats help them dismantle Medicare, etc. Democrats must not play that game. They must not choose between harming children and harming our vulnerable elderly. Let the Republicans do all the harming themselves. They need to own the results of their tax cuts for the rich. And voters need to see what they have done.
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Ellie, thank you for your wise and compassionate commentary.
1
Republicans are not only failing children they are failing America with their hard heart policies that favor the rich. What's next? What what they do with Medicare and Medicaid. Watch the attack on Social Security disability, See what they don't do with corporate welfare. With the Republicans is hard rugged individualism for the poor and middle classes and Socialism for themselves and their corporate masters.
8
And how many votes to elect their government representatives do American children have in our divided limited power Constitutional republic of 50 sovereign united states and the District of Columbia?
2
McConnell/Ryan what a pair
No compassion there anywhere,
Minions of the wealthy
With tactics so stealthy,
It breaks one's heart, leads to despair.
12
House Republicans passed a bill to fully fund this great program, Dems refuse to pass it in the Senate. Same as with say dreamers, they know what the terms are and if you want dreamers protected just vote for the proposal that the president has made. Very simple, Dems are obstructing things.
2
The Republican House bill would pay for extending CHIP by cutting $10.5 billion from an ACA program that helps finance improvements in the public health system.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now receives a large chunk of money from that program.
The GOP House CHIP bill essentially defunded part of the ACA and the CDC to pay for CHIP, which is why the Democrats responsibly opposed it, vulcanalex.
The GOP House CHIP bill did not provide any original funding for CHIP.
It would be very simple for the GOP to honestly fund CHIP, but they're more interested in funding billionaires.
Get a grip on the details.
61
Not hardly. When you steal from Peter to pay Paul then give the rich a break to the detriment of the poor, this is extortion not a plan to fund the truly needy.
5
"Republicans have held children’s insurance hostage to force Democrats to accept cuts to other programs."
I find using a program that benefits low-income parents with sick children to force Democrats to defund equally important programs for the elderly to be morally abhorrent.
This isn't horse-trading about military bases or funding for medical research, which would be bad enough. No, this is horse-trading with people's lives.
The tax bill--a total give-way to folks who don't need it--looms above all other programs, allowing Republicans to claim there is no money for kids unless they offset with Medicare.
Children or Granny? How much are their lives worth to a craven political party more beholden to wealth than to the health needs of low-income Americans.
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Roughly 45% of federal spending goes to those over age 65 and less than 8% to those under 18. Defense is less than 20%. I’d say there’s plenty of horse trading to be done to balance the scales.
You are assuming that entitlements are perfect with no room for cuts without throwing grandma off a cliff. That’s simply not true. I don’t have space to detail the issue, but as one small example seniors receive non-stop cold calls hawking back braces, motorized scooters and other expensive medical devices “at no cost to you” all day long. Who do you think is paying for this extra junk? And Democrats refuse to cut a penny on principle.
Trading new spending for cuts to other spending makes perfect sense at least to those of us who feel current spending is out of control and wasteful.
1
As a Granny, I'll give up my claim on life when I have to in order to save my family, but I'm not happy about it. In a country where there is so much wealth, I'll have to make the choice of cutting my life short, after years of hard work and paying into society, because others feel that my hard work meant nothing and I mean nothing and my grandchildren mean nothing. People don't count, only making money does.
SAD.
22
Between CHIP, SNAP (half of all recipients are children), education and real equal opportunity, republicans only care about a child before birth. After that, they have no interest all all. If they can get more uneducated serfs to work for them and vote for them, that is enough.
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No, we believe mom and dad should pay for the kids or not have them.
2
So Tom how many illegals and refugees are enough for you?. Who pays for their health care, education, housing etc. When is enough enough? if the 30 million is not enough is 40 million 50 million enough? lets just take in everybody who is poor, uneducated and unskilled.
It was around the 2006 election season when Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan was then only a Congressman, and starting his con as an economic policy expert, that the Republican leadership told him to avoid publicity. The Republicans were trying to gain seats. Paul Ryan on TWO previous budgets had tried to kill off the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP.) Is it any surprise that now that Paul Ryan has the authority, he’s killing off CHIP?
Republicans blather on about how people should earn their health benefits as though the people working aren’t working hard enough. Go to places where you find the working poor and answer how these people, constantly in motion, constantly standing, and doing all sorts of physical acts, could work harder to earn more. Republicans have enforced gross economic inequality on truly hardworking Americans.
Now those same Republicans are engaging in child abuse by denying poor children medical care so the Republicans can use them as a bargaining chip.
Is this why our military members risk their lives to protect our country? So Republicans can create a criminal, abusive, pariah nation?
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Paul Ryan is a disciple of Ayn Rand.
1
Paul Ryan's kids will never need CHIP.
They have Cadillac insurance through their Dad, funded by tax payers.
1
Yes, and yes.
Last year, House Republicans insisted that they would reauthorize CHIP only if Democrats agreed to offset spending on the program with cuts to Medicare...
The Republicans are always going after Medicare, a program that people pay into all their working lives. We can see right on our paychecks every month how much was taken out for Medicare. So after I lifetime of paying into Medicare the Republicans plan to tell us "Sorry?" Lyndon Johnson fought for Medicare because he thought it was wrong to leave the elderly unprotected. The Republicans have held a grudge a long time because of that. We need another politician who is willing to fight for what is right, like CHIP, and not politicians who fight for only the wealthy.
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You're on the right side, but your comment is so exaggerated I can't recommend it. Medicare is a $700 billion program. The cuts you referenced included ending subsidies for the wealthy and cutting spending by a few billion. I am middle class and my Medicare coverage is huge to me. And so I followed this and your suggestion that a cut of a few billion ends Medicare is so far from the truth it's absurd. For me, being on the right side isn't enough if your comment is absurd.
Actually the House Bill includes an income test for Medicare, folks with earned income in excess of $500k are limited in benefits.
I don't think that is a "grudge", but 173 House Dems apparently voted nay. It passed without them. 11/3
The average American will receive much more from a Medicare than he or she has paid in. Claiming it’s paid for by the individual is simply a lie.
2
Republicans in congress are failing justice and democracy, so I don't imagine children aren't high on their list.
97
Republicans in Congress are failing the entire country. All by themselves, they constitute a new criminal class in my book. They don't work for the country, they work for their mega-wealthy donors. One of them practically admitted it before the passage of the tax bill, saying he'd gotten a call from one of his donors who told him, "Pass this tax bill or don't ever call me for money again."
Dante wrote a book about where Republicans in Congress are going.
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There are 8,900,074 CHIP beneficiaries nationwide as follows:
California 2,022,213
Texas 1,075,212
New York 684,625
Florida 374,884
Pennsylvania 342,268
Illinois 325,990
North Carolina 256,446
Georgia 232,050
New Jersey 230,960
Ohio 223,583
Virginia 192,831
Oklahoma 187,971
Massachusetts 185,578
Wisconsin 171,552
Colorado 167,227
Louisiana 161,565
Alabama 150,040
Oregon 140,786
Maryland 137,592
Arkansas 120,863
Indiana 114,927
Tennessee 105,990
Kentucky 92,728
Mississippi 88,531
Arizona 88,224
Missouri 87,790
Iowa 84,989
Michigan2 82,693
South Carolina4 81,574
Kansas 79,319
Nevada 68,951
Washington 66,517
Utah 58,410
Nebraska 55,041
West Virginia 48,187
Montana 44,688
Rhode Island 36,262
Idaho 35,964
Hawaii 25,780
Connecticut 25,551
Maine 23,257
South Dakota 18,507
New Hampshire 17,946
Delaware 17,784
Alaska 15,662
New Mexico 15,100
District of Columbia 13,943
Wyoming 7,387
Vermont 5,305
North Dakota3 4,955
Minnesota 3,876
CHIP recipients by race
37% Hispanic
34% White
21% Black
3% Asian
6% Other
The Republican Party will get to those pesky, unwashed children when the GOP is finished rinsing their golden mouths with caviar and champagne...(assuming the children are still alive then).
Billionaires first.
Women and their children last.
Perhaps poor Americans never received the official Republican Party memo:
"Drop dead !"
GOP 2018
284
The House Bill passed. Even a Greek Philosopher knows that......
1
blind hawk....the GOP House CHIP 'funding' bill passed by stealing funds from the ACA and CDC to pay for CHIP.....it was a classic Republican hostage exchange proposal; there was no honest effort to fund CHIP by the GOP...although a a very honest effort was made to fund billionaires, CEOs and rich shareholders by the GOP.
Too bad about your research skills and critical thinking ability.
8
The Republicans in Congress don't care about the poor or the middle class. Only the tax cuts they can deliver to their corporate backers. They represent about 10% of the American population at best even though they have been able to persuade many more to vote for them and against their own best interests.
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Given Republican millionaires in Congress now have enshrined the possibility of leaving office without risk of paying even reasonable taxes on their own fortunes--they can stop pretending they care. They and their family members and friends can go to work for their wealthy/corporate masters. Not funding CHIP will ensure needs go unmet that will cost all of us (but the wealthy) more--later on. But never mind. The cost for funding CHIP over 10 years is less than Trump's increase in the DoD budget--which will bloat the budget to 3/4 of a trillion dollars. And that's only the DoD budget for 2018.
91