The President did it. He vetoed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, just as he threatened he would. He voted AGAINST providing 3.5 million poor children with health care and the best part is the irony. How ironic that the most prolific spender, the man who has increased our budget and spends $1 billion a day in Iraq, claims it is “too costly.”
Senator Kennedy had a fabulous quote about this veto stating: “I think that this is probably the most inexplicable veto in the history of the country. It is incomprehensible. It is intolerable. It’s unacceptable.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that she will work furiously to get the votes needed to overturn this abhorrent veto.
In the meantime, uber-organized group MomsRising wasted no time in getting out an email to its vast membership and calling for a rally today, click here to learn more:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=97&rc=mom_attend
MomsRising also included some startling statistics in their call-to-action email that I think we should all take note of:
*12% of American Children don’t have any insurance coverage at all
* The U.S. Ranks 37th in the world for infant mortality
* One-in-five U.S. jobs does not provide health insurance, a pension, or wages high enough to support a family
* For a family of 4, one year of health insurance costs an average of 11,000
* Over 1/2 of all bankruptcy filings in 2001 were a result of medical expenses
The bottom line is that having access to proper health care impacts every one of us. As I’ve said before, it is SHAMEFUL that we have so many uninsured poor children in this country, let alone so many uninsured Americans. I hope you will take note of whether your Representative or Senator supported this Bill or voted against and contact the ones that voted against. It’s the least we can do to help support Pelosi in her attempt to over-turn this absurd and abhorrent veto.
