Yesterday, I posted about the brewing battle over S-CHIP funding between Congress and the President. I suggested that maybe just this once, it might be a good idea to try to lobby our two Senators about this, since CHIP has broad, bipartisan support, and they might be willing to put the public interest ahead of President Bush's for a change. I wasn't too gung-ho about this, because Republicans in Congress have shown time and again that while they may sometimes talk a good game, in the end they'll do what their master says. This is what I mean.
In an unexpected turn of events, the top two Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Trent Lott of Mississippi, said they opposed a bipartisan bill that the Senate Finance Committee approved last week and would offer an alternative on the Senate floor. ...
Top House Republicans objected to the House Democrats' plan to finance their proposals, with increases in tobacco taxes and cuts in subsidies for private health plans serving older Americans on Medicare. Republicans say public coverage would in some cases replace private insurance."Dragging people out of private health insurance to put them into a government-run program is 'Hillary care' come back," Mr. Boehner said, referring to the Clinton administration plan for universal coverage.