SCHIP, Round 3

With the vote yesterday on the 3rd revision of SCHIP, Representative Scott Garrett was able to stand against the State Children's Health Insurance Program yet again. I'll be curious to see what kind of spin they put out this time around. Every "complaint" they had was dealt with, and yet after listening to the debate yesterday it seemed Republicans were entrenched in their spin rich opposition. Of course, Garrett wasn't invited to take the floor, so my guess is if he bothers saying anything at this point it will simply be regurgitation.


Just once in this debate, I'd like Garrett to come out and be honest with voters. This entire debate he's been hiding behind the arguments of others, and misstatements. Every lie has been exposed, so we'll see if Garrett continues repeating them or if he can man up and give us a reason we'll respect. I'm not saying agree with it, I'm saying respect it. Respect for a position requires the individual making the statement to be truthful, and the one giving the respect believing they're dealing with an honest broker. Garrett hasn't been an honest broker since the beginning.


I was re-reading Garrett's first speech, and it gives you an idea of either what an idiot Garrett may be(and I don't think he is) or just how blatantly dishonest he's been in this process:

Just what would that system look like? According to the Census Bureau, and I just got these numbers a little while ago, of the 300 million or so people in this country, 48.3 percent, or roughly 145 million people, live at or below the 300 percent of the Federal poverty level. So we're now considering a new entitlement program for nearly half of the entire population of this country. And if you add to that number the 44 million people who are currently enrolled in Medicare, what does that mean? That means, with this bill, almost two-thirds of the entire population of this country will be on a government-run, socialized health care system, two-thirds paid for by one-third.

In reading that, it's easy to realize Garrett was double counting people, unless he's saying everybody on Medicare is living at more than 300% of poverty. That's not the case, and Garrett knows that. He was also counting people on Medicaid and already in the S-CHIP program, as part of this new "entitlement." Simply by using the word entitlement instead of block grant, Garrett was being disingenuous.


If you remove all the emotion about the kids; remove all the partisan accusations; remove all the hyperbole; if you remove all of it you're left with a simple fact: Garrett lied to justify his position.

Like I said before, this particular vote isn't going to make or break Garrett. However, the fact he would lie to justify his opposition shouldn't be accepted by anyone.