Not Everyone Supports S-CHIP

Nancy Pelosi has decided to force a vote on overturning Bush’s S-CHIP veto this week.  I’m obviously not a huge fan of the White House position on the program, but Pelosi’s vote should be seen for what it is: a cheap excuse for Democrats to lambaste Bush for "denying" children health care.  Pelosi doesn’t have the votes she needs to overturn the veto, and she knows it, but that doesn’t mean that various liberal groups, including labor unions and others, aren’t trying to bully hold-out legislators into flipping.  The SEIU and an array of liberal organizations have launched a series of ads targeted against Republicans they believe to be weak on the issue.  This New York Times story on one their targets, Maryland Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, gives a cross-section of the Rep’s district, and contains one fairly heartening passage:

Walter T. Mills, the proprietor of a barbershop here for 32 years, said he and many of his customers agreed with Mr. Bartlett.

Mr. Mills, a Republican, summarized the reasons for his opposition to the child health bill in seven words: “It’s too costly. We can’t afford it.”

“The bill is financed with funny money,” he said. “The money comes from a very precarious source, higher tobacco taxes. How can this financing be sustained when we are doing everything we can to discourage the use of tobacco products?”

Mr. Mills said that because smoking was more common among lower-income people, they would be hurt most by the proposal to increase the federal excise tax on cigarettes to $1 a pack, from the current 39 cents.

It’s true that expanding S-CHIP is popular with a majority of voters, but a lot of the rhetoric these days makes it sound as if there’s not a single living soul outside a few heartless Washington pundits and some pitchfork-wielding corporate minions who thinks the program should go down.  Sometimes it’s nice to know that the message is being heard, even if only by a handful of people.