Is it just me or is it odd watching Republicans rush to demand public comment on nominations to the redistricting commission at the same time that they are ignoring a giant, legally-binding public comment that came in the form of last year's Healthy Montana Kids ballot initiative?
Look -- seek public input on your nominees or don't. I couldn't really care less because posting a comment section on your website hardly requires that you listen to or care about the comments that get made. But don't tell me you deeply value public opinion when the current thrust of your public message is that voters didn't know what they were supporting last November.
Yargh. This is the fight that won't end. Senate Republicans just cut CHIP again. It's like they really don't give a damn about either little kids getting health insurance or voters getting what they voted for.
One Republican has broken ranks -- John Brueggeman -- but the rest are standing firm so far.
What is strange is who is leading this effort -- Senator Dave Lewis. Dave Lewis has always struck me (from afar) as a reasonable guy. He's digging in hard on this fight, though. It's almost like he just wants to write the negative mail pieces.
Little kids continue to be a political football in Helena as (most) Democratic legislators continue to try to get funding for Head Start and health insurance across the line and into the end zone and (most) Republican legislators try to spike the ball on the 50th yard line.
We've been writing about this issue for a while and we know the basic messages coming out of both sides: Democrats say, "They is kidz and gets sick. We has to insure." Republicans say, "But is costz $! Kthxbai!"
But here's the thing -- the initiative set up a special fund that can only be used to fund the initiative. I don't understand the ins-and-outs. I'm not on taxation or appropriations or whatever. But the fund exists and will exist whether the money is spent on little kids' health care. But it can't be spent on anything else.
So, in other words, either the Republicans in Helena are just straight up philosophically dedicated to hating on little kids OR they don't understand the budget process. Given that Sen. Dave Lewis, a smart guy and former budget director, is one of the Republicans leading the charge here, I have a tough time believing ignorance is driving all of it. That's too bad, because based on a couple brief encounters and my general impression, Dave Lewis is one of the reasonable Republicans.
Maybe my understanding is wrong -- it has been before. If it is, please correct me in comments. I'd love to be wrong on this.
GOP legislators this week endorsed a measure to massively restrict abortion rights and also called for massive cuts to children's health insurance programs. Barney Frank said conservatives believe life begins at conception and ends at birth and this is a pretty example of that line of thinking.
Look, I'm a safety netter, a social Democrat, whatever. I think the government should ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance. But why the hell do conservatives think that compelled birth coupled with no assistance to low-income families to provide the basics like health care and food is a great idea for the little ones they're bringing into the world?
Last night, we had a class for Forward Montana and MontPIRG interns and we talked progressive values. I offered one approach that I'm a fan of -- Rawlsian justice. I just can't imagine the mindset that thinks that a fetus 3 days before being born is a defenseless human, but upon departure from the womb should be a self-actualized individual fully capable of providing health care for itself.
I should note -- to their credit, Sens. John Brueggeman and Ryan Zinke voted against the McGee abortion measure. And the CHIP cuts haven't faced a wider hearing. There may be more sanity yet. Time will tell.
The Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services voted today to strip $70 million out of the Healthy Montana Kids Act, effectively gutting the program according to one legislator I spoke with today.
This decision was made on a party line vote with the following Republican legislators voting to cut:
Sen. Dave Lewis
Rep. Penny Morgan
Rep. Don Roberts
Sen. John Esp
I'm slammed at work today. Anyone have the vote totals for these districts on the Healthy Montana Kids Initiative?
Update -- Just so we're clear on numbers, we're talking about health insurance for roughly 29,000 children. And the bulk of the money for this program would be federal money -- federal money that even Rep. Dennis Rehberg voted for (but that Max Baucus is largely responsible with the SCHIP reauthorization).
We're talking $18 million in state money in FY2010. That's a little more than $50 per child per month -- not a bad deal for health insurance that will get needed health care provided now, not years down the road.
The Healthy Montana Kids Act got 65% of the vote in HD 89, which Rep. MacLaren represents.
Like I said, bold move.
Update -- This makes more sense. It is moving in a package with A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: LEGALIZING TORTURE OF BABY KOALAS AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.
Wow. Compassionate conservative apparently means kicking children in the teeth. The New York Times has caught a rule change promulgated by the Bush Administration designed to knock some children off of State Children's Health Insurance Programs and prevent expansions of the programs in other states.
Under the proposal, states would only be able to expand CHIP if they can prove 95% participation rates, something our Senior Senator points out is an impossible request, out here in the real world.
Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Finance Committee, argued against the proposal, saying: "No state can meet 95 percent. No state currently meets 95 percent."
On top of that, the feds want to impose wonderful things like waiting periods for children moving into CHIP. Why do they want families to deal with health care gaps? To prevent people from leaving the private sector health care options, which, as I'm sure people can testify, are numerous, wonderful, and affordable. By people, of course, I mean Bush's brother-in-harms Dennis the Menace Rehberg.
The Billings Gazetteutterly eviscerates two of Rep. Mike Lange's proposals that deserve to die loud, noisy, and painful deaths. In their summary, the legislation does the following:
1. Require that children be raised with their parents' "values, wishes and desires" in foster care even though the children have been removed from the parents' home because of abuse or neglect. (HB217)
2. Insert Lange's proclamation on parental rights into the Montana Constitution. (HB312)
Here's a mild suggestion. If you beat your kids, if you neglect your kids, you lose your right to impose your values on them. Simply because they are your flesh and blood does not make them your slaves and society is free -- and probably obligated -- to intervene.
What's more, I have very little doubt in my mind that the proposal would break an already weak system. Few people have the time, the energy, or the love to take in foster children. How many of these foster parents want to have a half-hour sitdown learning that they should be doing 'right' by the child by taking out the belt occasionally.
When the state estimated that implementing this legislation would cost $1.2 million, Lange called the estimate 'dog meat.' He's got the analogy wrong, his bill is hands down the worst idea of the year. Bad parents don't deserve this protection.
