Reporting on House passage of SCHIP proposal, KOAA again noted Republican criticism but not bipartisan support
Summary: On September 26, Colorado Springs NBC affiliate KOAA News First reported on the House of Representatives' approval of a measure to expand a health insurance program for low-income children. The segment noted the opposition of President Bush and others to the bill but did not mention that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated Bush's alternative proposal would underfund the program. It also did not include a response by supporters of the bill.
Following a September 25 report about President Bush's threat to veto the congressional expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that omitted key information, the September 26 broadcast of Colorado Springs NBC affiliate KOAA's News First Today at 5 a.m. again failed to report that Bush's alternative proposal would underfund the SCHIP program by approximately $9 billion over a five-year period, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate. Additionally, while anchor Adam Atchison reported that "GOP leaders say" that the House-approved proposal "would cost more than what's allocated for, and it does not solve the problem," the report contained no response to such an assessment or any mention of bipartisan criticism of Bush's alternative proposal.
Atchison reported on H.R. 976, which the House of Representatives passed on September 25 by a vote of 265-159. As Congressional Quarterly reported, the Senate is expected to approve the bill as early as September 27.
From the September 26 broadcast of KOAA's News First Today at 5 a.m.:
ATCHISON: Last night House lawmakers in Washington approved to expand the government's children's health insurance program. But it's not quite a done deal. Supporters are still two dozen votes shy of what they would need to override the veto that President Bush has promised. However, the president's not the only one to disagree with the bill. GOP leaders say it would cost more than what's allocated for, and it does not solve the problem.
REP. JEB HENSARLING (R-TX) [video clip]: If this passes, in the years to come they won't wait minutes or hours to see a doctor of their choice; they will wait weeks and months to see a doctor chosen by a government bureaucrat.
ATCHISON: The measure would more than double government spending for the Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, as it's called. That would happen over the next five years.
As Colorado Media Matters previously noted, Bush's SCHIP proposal would sharply underfund the program, according to the CBO. Per the funding levels set in the original SCHIP legislation, the program cost the federal government $5 billion in 2007. If this baseline level were preserved over the next five years, to 2012, SCHIP would receive $25 billion. In his fiscal year 2008 budget request released in February, Bush sought an increase of $5 billion over this period, for a total of $30 billion in funding. In May, the CBO estimated that "maintaining the states' current programs under SCHIP would require funding of $39 billion for the 2007-2012 period" -- meaning Bush's proposal would leave the program with a $9 billion shortfall over those five years.
As Media Matters for America has noted, numerous Republicans have also criticized the smaller increase the Bush administration has proposed. According to a September 21 Washington Post article:
Republicans reacted angrily yesterday to President Bush's promise to veto a bill that would renew and expand the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program, raising the likelihood of significant GOP defections when the package comes to a vote next week.
"I'm disappointed by the president's comments," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who urged Bush, in an early-morning telephone conversation yesterday, to support the emerging bipartisan compromise. "Drawing lines in the sand at this stage isn't constructive. ... I wish he would engage Congress in a bill that he could sign instead of threatening a veto."
"I'm very, very disappointed," said Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). "I'm going to be voting for it."
Further, on August 2, the Senate bill to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion over five years passed by a vote of 68-31, with 17 Republicans voting in favor. Forty-five Republicans voted in favor of the House's similar version of the bill.
—E.B.
Comments (4) Show
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wadhams is playin' the kid. wake up, young atchison, before the repubs are literally using your prior gaffs to prod you into bigger ones. be a professional. either give an unbiased report or become a "news editorialist".
Illegals Get Access According to the Senate backed bill, an immigrant must only show their Social Security (SS) Card.How can illegal immigrants get into this program? A simple provision allows potential enrollers to show only a social security card—not documents proving citizenship—when they apply at the state level to get into the state programs. Although an admirable program to help children receive necessary medical care, the reauthorization bill, in its current state, flagrantly encourages illegal aliens to break our immigration laws and fraudulently enroll in taxpayer-funded public assistance programs.
Keep in mind, we are almost $10 trillion dollars indebt, and our free spending congress and president will soon raise the debt limit for the fifth time since 2002. Communist Red China holds $450 billion of our IOUs and has $1.3 trillion dollars, in cash, in the bank. They are building their first navy in over 500 years.The senate will create a 16-member task force that will make recommendations by Dec. 9, 2008, on how to address soaring costs of programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other spending. The bill calls for the recommendations to be introduced as legislation in the 111th Congress, and both chambers would have to consider it soon after that Congress convenes in January 2009. Debate would be limited, and the proposal could not be amended. It would require a three-fifths majority vote in both chambers to pass.The annual Social Security cash surpluses that have long offset other federal expenses likely will peak in 2009, one year after the first baby boomers become be eligible for this retirement benefit. By 2017, the surplus will be gone and the federal government will be on the hook to find new funding for Social Security as more and more Baby Boomers age into the program.How can we increase our federal debt when we are broke? Passing any bill that has increased spending is like telling your family to go ahead and spend the credit cards like Hell because we will not have to worry about how we are going to pay them off until January 2009. Where are our priorities?
we are talking about funding kids from low income families for basic needs. the common good. this flap is another karl rove inspired red herring. if the administration gets their way, (they've pulled it off for 6 and 1/2 years now in dozens of capers), we'll bicker over a $35 billion program and it's merits while the "top 1%" gleefully reaps the fruits of our $700 billion and counting occupation (nearing 4,000 dead, 40,000 wounded). this war has been privatized to an art form. construction companies paid billions in no bid government contracts for work never done (re:google Waxman/ kbr). 135,000-186,000 "private contractors", making close to 6 figure incomes, funded by............that's right.........our tax dollars, in a nightmare that has nothing to do with the war on terror. no, SCHIP is not the straw that will break the camel's back. let's not forget the 11 billion that "vanished" under the astute eye of J. Paul Bremmer. no armor or kevlar despite private companies paid in no bid cost plus contracts in advance to provide it. billions paid to "faith based initiatives" to slam 17th century puritanical religious beliefs down our throats. priorities. the "keepin' taxes low" scam this guy has conned some of us on is getting really old. the ultimate carny has the rubes from the little town watchin' the bearded lady while his confederates are breakin' into the unguarded town bank.
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