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Politics

Brown-Waite faces storm over SCHIP

She backs Bush's veto of the kids' health plan.

By JOHN FRANK and WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writers
Published October 17, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite says she fears the SCHIP plan would grow beyond its original intent.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite didn't catch this much flak when she was running for re-election last year.

But this week on Christian radio within her district, the Brooksville Republican is being derided as antichildren and antifamily. On TV, she's criticized for spending a half-trillion dollars on the war in Iraq while hundreds of thousands of Florida kids go without medical care.

Then there are the concerned parents knocking at her door on Capitol Hill, and a recent demonstration by liberal groups outside her district office in Brooksville.

Brown-Waite is one of about two dozen Republican lawmakers being targeted to change their minds and vote on Thursday to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand a popular health care program for children of the working poor.

She downplayed the attention, saying that most of the calls to her office support her decision to sustain the veto. She also dismissed the recent advertisements from Catholics United and Americans United for Change.

"I think my constituents know what all the MoveOn subsidiaries are all about," Brown-Waite said Tuesday. "Nobody likes being called names. But unfortunately that's what the mean-spiritedness of today's political life is like."

Last month, Congress approved an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, allocating $35-billion over the next five years to cover about 10-million children - 4-million more than now. Bush vetoed it for being too expensive, among other things, prompting efforts to override the veto.

While the bill passed the Senate with a veto-proof majority, Democrats figure they need about 15 Republicans in the House to switch sides. That's unlikely, but Democrats are using the issue to try to build political support against Republicans who oppose the program.

SCHIP, as the program is called, marks the most contentious domestic battle Congress has undertaken since Democrats took over in January. Even if the veto override fails, Democratic leaders believe Republicans will suffer at the polls for blocking it.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps elect Democrats to the House, and other liberal groups already are using the issue to target Republicans in potential swing districts, including Brown-Waite, whose district includes Hernando County and part of Pasco County, and Orlando-area Reps. Tom Feeney and Ric Keller.

Brown-Waite, a moderate not afraid to buck the White House, championed the companion Florida program, KidCare, when she was a state senator.

But she voted against the original House bill in August because she said it would take money from the Medicare Advantage program for seniors. When Medicare Advantage was spared, she still opposed the final version.

Brown-Waite said the bill opens SCHIP to illegal immigrants by not doing enough to verify status. And states that get waivers from Washington could use the money to cover adults.

"I want to cover these children, I just don't want an out-of-control program that goes far beyond the initial intent of the law when SCHIP was first created 10 years ago," she said.

Republican legislators who support the veto are taking a public relations beating.

Catholics United is airing a radio ad featuring a woman who says "protecting the lives of our children must be our nation's No. 1 moral priority. That's why I'm concerned that congresswoman Brown-Waite says she's pro-life but votes against health care for poor children. That's not pro-life. That's not pro-family."

The television ad sponsored by American's United for Change, a coalition of MoveOn and other liberal groups, links the issue to spending on the war in Iraq as the words "wrong priorities" move across the screen.

On Capitol Hill, support for the bill comes from a range of interest groups, including traditionally conservative groups like the American Medical Association and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of America and some traditionally apolitical organizations such as Easter Seals, which sent 250 staff members, volunteers, children and families to offices Tuesday.

The effort continues today. Bethany Wilkerson, 2, of St. Petersburg and her parents plan to visit the offices of Brown-Waite and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, to tell how the affordable health coverage of KidCare saved her life. Bethany was born with two holes in her heart and required surgery when she was 6 months old, her parents said.

"We want to make sure it continues on not just for Bethany's sake but for millions of kids in the U.S.," her mother, Dara, 37, said before attending an event on Capitol Hill with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

But Republicans lambaste SCHIP as the first step toward socialized medicine.

Since families who earn up to three times the poverty limit may qualify, Republicans contend it will spend taxpayer money on people who don't need it. And some question the funding sources, which rely heavily on tobacco taxes, including a new tax of up to $3 for single cigars.

"It breaks my heart to vote this way, but I want to be fiscally responsible," said Bilirakis, who will vote to uphold the veto.

Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, the third-ranking Republican in the House, acknowledged his party could take a short-term PR hit, but "time is on our side."

"The public recognizes that there is an important policy fight going on here about how to best cover the working poor, and there is total agreement that they should be covered," he said.

Republican House leaders and President Bush have said they are willing to compromise. Even if the override fails, the debate won't disappear any time soon.

"No matter what happens," Pelosi said, "these children will not be left behind by us."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114. Wes Allison can be reached at allison@sptimes.com or (202) 463-0577.

Fast facts

What is SCHIP?

The 10-year-old federal and state partnership currently costs $5-billion a year to provide insurance for about 6-million children whose family income is less than twice the federal poverty level, or $41,228 for a family of four in 2006. The bill vetoed by President Bush would allow states to loosen the eligibility cap to families who make less than three times the poverty level. The additional cost of $7-billion a year to fund about 4-million more children would be covered by a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes, which now stands at 39 cents.

[Last modified October 17, 2007, 06:07:26]