alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

October 18, 2007

Enemy of the People

by AltHippo @ 2:57 pm. Filed under hacks, wingnuttia, republicans

Rick Perlstein points out that the failure to over-ride the S-CHIP veto is both a vote against our children and our military:

The consequences of the conservative strategy of obstructing every piece of popular legislation that would improve the lot of ordinary Americans spread like kudzu. The Military Times points to one that escaped most of our notice. Did you know that the House attached to its reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP an amendment to “expand family leave rights for people caring for wounded service members”? That it “was endorsed by a bipartisan presidential commission”?

Here’s how it works:

Under the approved legislation, which lawmakers are calling the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act, spouses, parents, children or next of kin of service members who suffered serious injury or illness while on active duty could get up to six months of unpaid leave, in addition to vacation, personal or sick leave, to help with the care of the injured service member. Employers could require certification of how the time off was used.

Current law provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave and does not extend the time off to parents, siblings or other relatives who could end up being the closest living kin of a severely wounded service member.

While I type this the gang at NRO are high-fiving themselves. K-Lo has just put up this quote from Roger Hickey. It’s safe to assume that it’s been using derisively (the K-Lobster labels it “Also for the Starkly Outrageous File”):

One hundred and fifty-six House Members declared themselves enemies of children and families with this vote. Ignoring the will of the people, a conservative minority in the House sustained the president’s veto and denied nearly 5 million children access to health insurance. Upholding the president’s veto is only the latest obstruction to progress by Washington conservatives.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support populist reforms, but conservatives have repeatedly used filibusters and vetoes to block this progress and then they hypocritically blame others for a lack of congressional action. The record is clear. Congressional conservatives and the president are the culprits who have stood in the way of a new progressive direction for our nation. Our children will pay a steep price for their cruel politics.

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