CNN's Keilar claimed Congress "stalled" on SCHIP without noting presidential vetoes
SUMMARY: In a report on CNN's The Situation Room, Brianna Keilar reported that, "[i]n recent weeks, Congress has stalled on legislation to expand the children's health insurance program," but she did not mention that Congress twice passed legislation to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which President Bush vetoed.
On the December 13 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, correspondent Brianna Keilar said: "In recent weeks, Congress has stalled on legislation to expand the children's health insurance program." In fact, Congress twice passed legislation to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), but President Bush vetoed the first bill on October 3 and the second on December 12. The House voted on whether to override Bush's first veto on October 18, but the attempt failed, 273-156 -- 17 votes short of the required two-thirds majority. The House voted to postpone consideration of an override of Bush's second veto until January 23, 2008.
Keilar also reported that Congress has not passed legislation under consideration to "stop the alternative minimum tax from hitting millions more Americans, and reform the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program, not to mention the failure to fund almost the entire federal government and give the president more money for the war on Iraq."
From the December 13 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
KEILAR: Democratic presidential candidates hot off the campaign trail sped into Washington today, spending less than an hour on the Senate floor to vote "yes" on two measures, votes that in the end didn't really matter.
BEN NELSON (D-NE): The motion is not agreed to.
KEILAR: And with that, a Democratic push on a critical energy bill fell short. It's a different day, but in a way, the same old story: Faced with a determined president and a unified Republican minority, this Democratic-led Congress has held many votes that have failed.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): When one side or the other tries to jam their agenda down the throats of the other side, it doesn't work, and exhibit A is the dismal record of this broken Congress during this last year.
KEILAR: On the flip side, Democrats accuse Republicans of stonewalling.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): My Republican colleagues are filibustering themselves out of their seats come 2008.
KEILAR: In recent weeks, Congress has stalled on legislation to expand the children's health insurance program, stop the alternative minimum tax from hitting millions more Americans, and reform the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program, not to mention the failure to fund almost the entire federal government and give the president more money for the war in Iraq. Democrats say their votes are important even if they don't win.
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We signaled change, we've made a difference, and now we're showing, in order to get much more of this done, we can do some of it this year, but we need a Democratic president and we need stronger majorities in the House and Senate.
KEILAR: Democrats are showing some signs of giving into the president's demands in the hopes that they can get some of this taken care of ahead of the holidays. It looks like, ultimately, they will approve the latest installment of war funding without strings attached. And Senate Democrats have a plan to scrap tax increases for oil companies from the energy bill in the hopes that they can pass that here in the next couple of hours.
This women "keilar" obviously does not know what she is talking about.
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
How detached can a President and his Party be??
Answer: Stall Healthcare to the disadvantaged working poor and lower middle-class, and preserve Oil Companies Tax Relief while they are making historic planetary profits gouging Americans, causing wars, bankrupting our government with War Supplementals, while 50 million Americans are uninsured!!
As the sunset on the Republican Party, and this nightmare of the past 7yrs will be remembered as the days that America flirted with Fascism!
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Amazing. How many threads have there been about Bush's vetoes being misconstrued as congressional "stalling"?
These talking heads just seem to get dumber by the minute.
Well, there is an obstructionist minority preventing a veto override, so it's true that (Republican) members of Congress share the blame.
So Congress passes the bill and Bush vetoes them, and Congress is stalling, or has stalled? In what world does that hold true?
In the case of SCHIP, we have a universally well administered and well liked program from both parties, and constituents, and Bush would rather let children not have healthcare, but be assured, he's going to get the funding he wants for bombs.
It's amazing to me that he suddenly found his "fiscal" responsibility side when the democrats took over Congress. All of a sudden, he didn't like to spend like a drunken president any longer. What a maroon that guy is.
Did Congress make substantial changes to the bill that was vetoed the first time before submitting a second bill in regards to SCHIP? If not, what did they expect from the WH? Sadly, it appears the days of compromise are far behind and will remain so for at least another 12 months.
Yes, Congress made substantial changes - although not the changes Bungle wanted. The responded to even the most inane objections, so long as those were voiced - but bungle's version would require that no more money be spent (I think a total $5B increase - barely current inflation, and nothing close to impending inflation) and no tax increase allowed to pay for the increase. Sorry Congress didn't just abdicate, and tell Bungle to write it himself, for their rubber stamp?
Thanks for the update, lost track of this one. Looks like a media foul up in placing blame on this one.
President Bush vetoed it the first time because it was a waste of money, then he vetoed it a second time when they added even more pork to the program. You have to compromise in Washington.
President Bush vetoed it the first time because it was a waste of money, then he vetoed it a second time when they added even more pork to the program. You have to compromise in Washington. booga11349985
Bush passed pork by the sty-load when his buddies controlled Congress. But at any rate, S-Chip is the opposite of pork. This vital social program would be entirely funded by raising the tax on a luxury item (cigarettes). Nice try, though.
I think the Democrats have a good chance of losing the 2008 election if they don't reach a compromise on the alternative minimum tax - by losing I mean not winning the Presidency and losing their edge in the Senate and having less of a majority in the house - nice going guys but you could make me pay thousands for your stupidity
It's not YOU, its the shrub and if the Dems lose in the next election expect more of this crap. They don't care about the middle class and never did. Wealthy, and only the wealthy, remember the shrub saying that at the fundraiser (Farenheit 911 movie)? These are my constituents....
It's not actually possible for the Democrats to lose control of the Senate, given that the Republicans have 22 seats to defend - three of them open seats, and no money. It is also unreasonable to believe that voters will turn against Democrats because of Bush's repeated vetoes of a children's health bill, when the most important issues will be the economy and Iraq.
"...nice going guys but you could make me pay thousands for your stupidity"
Don, if you're not making enough that those thousands are going to hurt you, you really need to get a new tax guy.
"terrorist surveillance program"
It's called warrantless wiretapping. Everyone they're spying on isn't a terrorist.
Just more steps for the Democratic Party to spread their socialistic ideology and corrupt the free market system (SCHIP). The point of the story is that congress is choosing their battles unwisely which will cost them in the long run. Numerous wastes of time have been spent voting on issues just for political purposes and wasting time. The newly elected congress (Dem) is in panic mode because they know if they do not do something in time they will go to the wayside. I laugh at the thought of them in the begin when they were so delusional with power. Look where they are now. They have an approval rating lower than Pres Bush. Is that what the voter wanted when they elected the Dem? I don’t think so. So I wouldn’t say stalling, I would say they are inept.
Just ignore the block nd blame strategy of the radical minority, why don't ya? Just be thankful that the cons capitulated when they had the chance to use the nulear option and be thankful the Dems aren't little snotty brats of the sort to even consider discuss such crap.
As for the socialism referrence, I think we all know where you can shove that one.
I, like the majority of citizens prefer market regulations and single payer healthcare to the conservative perversion of capitalism any day.
Schip is so important you have heard all the dems talking about it in the debates.......NOT. Thats why it "fell off" the radar. It was nothing but a stick to beat the President up with, and the Dems had no real desire to reach a compromise and get the bill completed.
Gosh, *I* thought it "fell off the radar" because the Corporate Media doesn't want to run essentially free advertising for the Democrats, that Repugnants are well, Repugnant, and should be politically cast out or imprisoned for life for various crimes against man and nature (which is what a truthful and fair discussion of the Schip program and it's obstruction by Bungle and that handful of Repugnant Congresscritters, combined with all their numerous violations and abridgements of our Constitution, would produce as fruit)