GUEST VOICES: CD 10 Candidate Dan Grant On SCHIP

[Ed. Note: Capitol Annex is very pleased this afternoon to feature a "guest blog" by Dan Grant (D-Austin), a candidate for Congress in CD-10.]

On Monday, President George W. Bush declared “Child Health Day,” saying that the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) “should be reauthorized” because of its “important role… in helping poor children stay healthy.”

On Wednesday, the President vetoed the reauthorization of the SCHIP bill, which would have expanded health insurance to four million mostly lower-income children of working parents, saying “I believe in private medicine, not the federal government running the health care system.”

On the fourth day, Mr. Bush rested — safe in the knowledge that he can turn to his government-run health care plan in case he gets a crick in his neck from talking out of both sides of his mouth at once.

My opponent, Mike McCaul, voted against SCHIP last week and applauded the presidential veto this week. What kind of politician turns his back on the children of the taxpayers who fund his own health insurance? A politician whose values are upside down.

We need a change in Washington — now.