Joe Barton, SCHIP and his 25 Year Old Daughter
I usually don't take notes during my middle-of-the-night C-SPAN/C-SPAN 2 viewing. It's what I do for leisure, not for work. But late last night, C-SPAN was re-airing the press conferences of the bipartisan Senate supporters of S-CHIP and the House Republicans talking about frustration with "politicking" by the Democrats.
Enter Texas US Rep Joe Barton. He voted against the SCHIP expansion and urged the Democratic leadership to hurry up and vote to sustain the Bush veto (since the House doesn't have the votes to override it.) He says this would allow them to work on a bill that House Republicans weren't getting at the last minute, and a bill that the President would actually sign. Then, when talking about his opposition to the current SCHIP bill, he said it's plausible that his adult daughter could qualify and that's not what the program should be doing.
Barton, in his own words:
"The Democrats really want to play politics by waiting two weeks [to vote on the bill again] and browbeat Republicans into changing their minds on the override, which they won't.
Not one House Republican has been asked to participate in any meaningful negotiation on SCHIP. We WANT to insure every child in America that is below 200% poverty, period. We think you should be covered. But some states cover more adults than children. SCHIP should be about children, not adults.
My daughter Kristen is 25 years old and lives in New York City. I don't know how much she maker, she's never told me. But it's possible, depending on how much she makes, that under the Democrats version of this bill, she could qualify for SCHIP."
