Arizona Republicans in Congress face a difficult vote next week on whether to override President Bush’s veto of the reauthorization and expansion of a popular program that would provide health care coverage to more than 170,000 Arizona children. The vote is cast by Democrats as a needed increase in the number of low-income children covered by the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and by some Republicans as a needless tax increase and the first step on the path toward socialized medicine.
Regardless of how one looks at SCHIP, as it is known, the prospect of a veto override puts Republicans in the politically unfortunate position of siding with their president or with the vast majority of the American public, which polls show supports the program. While Republicans fret about the political ramifications of the vote, Democrats are for now content to let their rivals stew.
Members of the Arizona delegation are themselves split on the question of a veto override. While all four Democrats say they will vote to override, three Republicans will vote to sustain the veto, a step they say will begin to hold the line on increased federal spending.
One member of the GOP, though, sees the program in a different light. “I represent the largest landmass of poverty in America,” says Congressman Rick Renzi, whose sprawling First Congressional District encompasses the Navajo nation and other Native American reservations. Many areas in Renzi’s district suffer from poor access to health care, the deciding factor in the congressman’s mind. “For me to turn my back on that would be a failure of duty,” he said.
Renzi says he will vote to override the president’s veto because of the good the bill would do for KidsCare, the Arizona program that benefits from federal matching funds that flow from SCHIP.
3 Republicans support veto
On the other end of the bill, Reps. Jeff Flake, John Shadegg and Trent Franks all say they will vote to sustain the veto. Aside from local considerations, the three believe the veto is the first step toward returning the GOP to its traditional roots as the party of fiscal conservatives who favor smaller government.
For Franks, the former director of the Governor’s Office for Children, the vote is particularly difficult. “Children’s issues have been my life, and so I’m very frustrated that Democrats would use this issue for political posturing,” he said.
Franks criticizes current version
of SCHIP program
While SCHIP began as a Republican program, the current version is unrecognizable to Franks. He criticizes the current version for including health care provisions for illegal immigrants, childless adults and others already covered by the private sector. The program, he said, needs to return to its roots. “Everything works better when families are the primary source of child care and child welfare,” he said. “If we continue to create monstrous, never-ending entitlement programs, … we only set this generation on a collision course with disaster.”
The argument against the Democratic bill, which Franks called “a huge step toward HillaryCare,” referring to the Democratic presidential front-runner, extends to powerful anti-tax groups in Washington. Earlier this year, say several sources close to the administration within Americans for Tax Reform and the Club for Growth, President Bush promised to veto any spending legislation that went over his requested funding levels.
Poll: Americans favor SCHIP expansion
Democrats, hoping to cast SCHIP as a bill about health care for children rather than as a spending issue, and knowing the vetoes are coming, wisely pressed the bill first, rather than advancing other, less politically popular bills. The SCHIP expansion, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, enjoys the support of 72 percent of Americans, while just 25 percent oppose it.
Still, say Republicans who oppose the measure, taking a near-term hit in popularity pales in comparison to the benefits they will receive by working to rebuild the party’s image on fiscal discipline.
For Renzi, the GOP has already made some steps toward limiting spending, and a bill like the SCHIP legislation is a good place to spend some of those savings. “We’ve halved the deficit in the last three years,” he said. “At the same time, we’ve got to invest in America, and particularly the poorest.”
Renzi agrees with his fellow Republicans that fiscal discipline is key for the party. But, he says, spending is necessary, especially in his district. “I would invite any of those fiscal hawks out to the Navajo nation, and have them vote against [SCHIP] having seen the conditions out there.” Franks, who stressed his good relationship with Renzi, disagreed. “The more government burdens the private sector, the more it hurts everyone,” he said. “Socialism is ultimately the equal distribution of poverty and misery.”
Dems target 8 Republicans
The vote, Democrats hope, will bolster their case that the GOP is out of touch. Already, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted eight incumbents around the country with radio advertisements and automated phone calls urging them to vote against the veto. No ads have been run against Arizona incumbents, though a source at the committee refused to rule out a second round that would take aim at any of the three incumbents planning on voting to sustain the veto.
While Senate supporters of the bill say they have the votes to override a veto, House proponents remain about 14 votes short. Representatives of both parties acknowledge that the hurdle may be too high to climb, and that both parties will likely head back to the negotiating table to come up with a new reauthorization compromise. The veto override will be political fodder for the short term, but the debate is far from over.