Joe Sonka November 3rd, 2007

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

Once more, Mitch McConnell chooses to side with the extreme fringe minority, voting against the bipartisan legislation to expand SCHIP. Matthew Miller at the DSCC sums it up:

For the sixth time in recent months, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell led a small segment of his Republican colleagues in voting against the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program today – despite changes made to the bill to address Republicans’ stated concerns and a recent poll showing that over 80% of Americans favor expanding the program. McConnell’s vote to deny 51,500 Kentucky children health care comes just weeks after he was caught on tape misleading Kentuckians about his office’s role in a smear campaign against 12-year old Graeme Frost.

“It seems like every day Mitch McConnell makes another bad choice on children’s health care,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “Between getting caught in a smear campaign against a 12-year old boy and voting against children’s health care yet again, Mitch McConnell probably wishes the SCHIP debate would just go away. But the thousands of uninsured Kentucky children can’t be swept under the rug, and neither will McConnell’s decision to turn his back on them.”

McConnell Votes Against Children’s Health Care… Again. For the sixth time in recent months, Mitch McConnell voted today to block a bipartisan bill to expand health care to an additional 51,000 children in Kentucky.[ Families USA Report; Vote 307, 8/2/07; Vote 352, 9/27/07; Vote 353, 9/27/07; Vote 401, 10/31/07; Vote 402, 11/1/07; Vote 403, 11/1/07]

What’s the Excuse for Voting Against Children’s Health This Time? The revised children’s health bill explicitly addressed the Republican excuses for opposing the first version of the bill, for example reiterating that illegal immigrants are ineligible, more rapidly excluding childless adults, and capping eligibility. [Statement of Administration Policy, H.R. 3963; HR 3963, 2007]

81% Support Expanding Children’s Health Care. According to an October 17 CBS News survey, a whopping 81% of American favor expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. In addition, only 22% of those polled say they approve of Bush’s handling of health care after he vetoed the children’s health bill. [CBS News, 10/17/07]

McConnell Aide Admitted to Sending Email Pushing SCHIP Smear. In October 2007, a McConnell aide admitted that he had sent an email to reporters highlighting inaccurate charges made on conservative blogs accusing the family of a child who helped promote the SCHIP program of being undeserving of federal assistance. In the email, the McConnell aide wrote, “bloggers have done a little digging and turned up that the Dad owns his own business (and the building it’s in), seems to have some commercial rental income and Graeme and a sister go to a private school that, according to its Web site, costs about $20k a year — for each kid — despite the news profiles reporting a family income of only $45k for the Frosts.”Could the Dems really have done that bad of a job vetting this family?” [ Louisville Courier-Journal, 10/16/07]

McConnell Was Aware That His Staff Promoted Swift-Boating of Child. In October 2007, it was reported that McConnell had been aware of the email sent by his staff alerting reporters to blog attacks on the family of a child that had spoken out on SCHIP legislation, even while he denied that his office had been involved. McConnell’s staffer admitted that he had told McConnell about the emails on Thursday, the day before he denied the accusations during a TV interview. [ Louisville Courier-Journal, 10/17/07]

• Frostgate , Mitch McConnell , SCHIP
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