Hello all!

This article was originally published on March 3, 2008 in the newspaper "The Red and Black."

ARTICLE:

Although the Bush administration most likely will be remembered for its senseless commitment to the ever-worsening war abroad, President George W. Bush recently has left another, equally ugly stain on American history.

In 2007, Bush twice vetoed two measures passed by Congress to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

This program, known as SCHIP, is a program run by the federal government that provides funding to states in order to offset the cost of health insurance for lower-middle- and middle-class families.

SCHIP, created in 1997, is designed to give financial aid to children from families that earned an income that made it difficult to afford health insurance, yet disqualified them from Medicaid.

Most students here at the University are fortunate enough to be able to afford (or have parents who can afford) health insurance. Most of us will enter the workforce upon graduation, establish families and earn a comfortable income.

Although many graduates of the University will be able to afford health insurance for themselves and for their children, we have an obligation to aid those who are not as fortunate as we are.

Since its inception, SCHIP has eased the burden of financing health insurance for millions of families across the nation.

Thanks to this landmark legislation, millions of children now have access to affordable health insurance. However, despite its successes, SCHIP is in need of a rigorous and ruthless renovation.

Millions of American families find themselves in a financial purgatory - they earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but they cannot easily afford health insurance for their children.

SCHIP has the potential to assist these ailing families, but, unfortunately, the financial resources available to fund SCHIP do not meet its demand.

Recognizing the need for change, Congress launched a bipartisan effort in 2007 to expand SCHIP's funding from $5 billion to $12 billion. This bill, had it been signed by the president, potentially would have offered the opportunity to purchase children's health insurance for millions more families in the U.S.

Much to the chagrin of many congressmen and their constituents, Bush vetoed this bill. Recognizing that his refusal to sign the bills would ignite furor across the nation, Bush came armed with an excuse. The bill, the president claimed, would provide too much funding to families who could afford children's health insurance on their own.

This mentality, simply put, is factually inaccurate.

The truth of the matter is that the extra funding for SCHIP, as delineated by the bill, would have come from increased taxes in tobacco products.

Bush, having accepted numerous monetary campaign contributions from tobacco companies, did not want to upset his generous cronies.

Bush's willingness to veto the expansion of SCHIP in order to ensure the profitability of tobacco companies is both disgustingly ironic and pathetically amoral.

I understand that a perennial hallmark of the conservative agenda is to decrease federal spending, and these budget cuts must be made somewhere.

But I can't help but wonder: If the Bush administration were not so adamant on funneling billions of dollars to a senseless war in Iraq, perhaps we could have more funds to aid the plight of millions of American families at home.