A Stinker for the GOP

By Jay Newton-Small

Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico worries that people might get the wrong impression when her party votes down children's health care. "It's a Republican program," laments Wilson, referring to the State Children's Health Insurance Program. "It was created by a Republican Congress."

So why are President Bush and House GOP leaders now siding against poor sick kids? Because a Democratic bill would enlarge the program--by hiking tobacco taxes--to include children of lower-middle-class and of even slightly more affluent folks who, say, recently lost their jobs and can't make ends meet. The $35 billion expansion, critics warn, is the Dems' first step toward socialized medicine. "Their proposal would move millions of children who now have private health insurance into government-run health care," says Bush, whose promised veto could come as early as Oct. 1.

But not all Republicans agree. The Senate passed the measure in August with the support of 14 Republicans. And Wilson was one of 45 House Republicans who voted for it in late September, though there were not enough GOP supporters to overcome Bush's expected veto. The White House is "on the wrong side of this issue," says Wilson, who holds one of the most vulnerable GOP House seats. Pressuring members to vote against children's health care is not the best idea for a party trying to regain power, she adds.

Democrats intend to introduce the bill again and again between now and the 2008 elections. "Children's health care will be a defining issue this cycle," says Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Congressman whose job is to help elect more Democratic candidates. "Republicans either stand with 10 million American kids or with President Bush." For Republicans looking to change the subject from Iraq, this probably wasn't what they had in mind.