Cornyn Caught Telling Whoppers

Senator Cornyn, who voted against the SCHIP bill, has been caught telling some untruths about that very same bills.

Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) issued a statement:

CPPP has released a statement regarding Senator Cornyn’s SCHIP claims. We have also posted a letter we sent to Senator Cornyn in August and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Table that he is misreading that we discuss in the letter.

Here’s a picture from yesterday’s protest outside Cornyn’s office.

KRLD radio interviewed me yesterday about this SCHIP bill. Below is the research I did in preparation for the interview:

Support:

• SCHIP is one of the most cost-efficient government programs in history.
• It was started by a Republican Congress led by Newt Gingrich
• It was renewed with the overwhelming support of Republicans in Congress. Of course, TX Sen John Cornyn is so completely out of touch with what’s important that he voted in lock lip, oops! I mean lock-step with Bush.
• 43 governors sent a letter to Bush asking him not to veto but of course Governor 39% Goodhair was not one of those governors.
• In an ABC News/WaPo Poll when asked Do you support or oppose this increased funding for this program?

• Support 72
• Oppose 25
• Unsure 3″

Bottom line: The overwhelming majority of Americans in both parties support this bill.

Opposition:

• We can’t afford it: We are approaching $1 Trillion dollars for a war that Americans don’t want.
• Provides health care for families making $83,000. NY asked for a waiver because the cost of living is so much higher there. To quality for the waiver, states have to match the grant with their own money. Texas has the same opportunity but, unfortunately we don’t take advantage of it.
• SCHIP was designed to help poor children: Actually Medicaid was designed to help poor children. SCHIP was designed to help children whose family incomes fall between the Medicaid limit and the point where private insurance becomes affordable. Obviously, that gap is going to vary from state to state.
• It takes money away from insurance companies: It provides a mechanism for recouping overpayments to insurance companies. It isn’t “creating a new tax” on them as the WSJ claims, it is cutting corporate welfare and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.

The veto was political grandstanding by a president who has completely shattered the myth of the fiscally conservative, compassionate Republican Party. It’s his attempt to redeem himself with what’s left of his base and it’s completely out of touch with what the vast majority of Americans want. He is enabled in this by our own out of touch, grandstanding sycophant senator John Cornyn.