10-08-07, 2:23 pm

Americans of all political stripes are organizing to turn their disbelief and anger at last week's Bush veto of the S-CHIP reauthorization bill into constructive action to save the program.

The bill would have allocated $7 billion a year for five years to add about 3.8 million uninsured children to the nearly 6.6 million children already covered under S-CHIP provisions.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Bush's plans to slash S-CHIP funding could eliminate 800,000 needy children from S-CHIP's current rolls.

The president's veto of children's health care sparked a swift outrage from broad sections of the country. People in Kansas City, Missouri, Holly Springs, North Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Aurora, Colorado, Bingham Farms, Michigan and in more than 250 other communities across the country turned out within hours of the veto to demand that Congress override it.


Marches and demonstrations are continuing this week as well.

Health groups affiliated with the faith community inveighed against the veto. The set up a take action page for readers to send e-mails to their representatives urging an override Bush's veto of children's health care.

Community and advocacy groups denounced the veto as well. Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said, “The President’s veto is a slap in the face of America’s children. For millions of children in working families, it says ‘No health care for you.’'

Robert Borosage of Campaign for America's Future described Bush's decision as a sell-out to corporate America. 'The president chose the special interests of big insurance companies over the needs of millions of children who need coverage,' said Borosage.

National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy decried Bush's hypocrisy. 'It is shameful that our president, who enjoys government-subsidized health care, vetoed the SCHIP renewal, but also that Congress dropped coverage for legal immigrant children in hopes of avoiding the veto pen,' she said.

The labor movement as part of a coalition of groups including , Americans United for Change, True Majority, and USAction are launching a campaign targeting Republican members of Congress to pressure them to vote with the majority of Americans and override Bush's veto of children's health care.

Speaking on a telephone press conference call last Friday, Brad Woodhouse of Americans United for Change denounced the president's actions, saying 'If President Bush gets his way on children's health care, children who are on the program today will fall from the rolls.'

Woodhouse juxtaposed Bush's demand to cut children's health care with the massive spending on the war in Iraq and expressed shock at Bush's choice.

'It is astonishing,' he said, 'that President Bush would pick a fight with the most vulnerable citizens of this country, our children and their families.'

'His decision to eliminate health care for children across this country,' Woodhouse concluded, 'while continuing to spend billions and billions a week in Iraq will go down as potentially less popular than the war in Iraq itself.'

Chuck Loveless, legislative director of AFSCME, the country's largest public workers union, saw the S-CHIP veto override battle as the biggest battle with Bush since the successful effort to block the administration's drive to privatize Social Security.

'The president essentially has told American kids to drop dead,' said Loveless, 'and we're quite simply not going to let that happen.'

Loveless said that AFSCME would be launching ad and member mobilization campaigns in several Republican districts to demand an override of Bush's veto.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Strategic Campaigns Director Khalid Pitts added that his union would be mobilizing its members, including its 1 million health care workers, to call, e-mail, and march to demand that Republicans vote to override Bush's veto.

Said Pitts, 'This is an unprecedented effort of groups to say to the president, 'Enough is enough!''

'He has drawn his line in the sand,' continued Pitts, 'and unfortunately, his line crosses over the health care of millions of children.

Gerald Shea, assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, vowed to put the voices of the federation's 10 million worker members and its 3 million retirees behind the override effort. The AFL-CIO will be targeting 43 members of Congress in 20 states with phone calls, e-mails, congressional office visits, said Shea.

In a press statement, Anna Burger, international secretary-treasurer of SEIU, added, “Congress must fix what President Bush has broken and override this indefensible veto. If they do not, they will answer to the American people.”

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both parties denounced the veto. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), in a press conference held by Senate leaders last Wednesday, urged an override and said, 'It's disappointing to me that the president vetoed this bipartisan bill.'

Grassley promised to put pressure on his Republican colleagues who voted against children's health care.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) took a sharper line, saying, 'It is an outrageous act on the part of the president.'

'I search for his motivation,' Rockefeller continued, 'but that's not constructive. It only makes me angry.'

In a floor speech, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-SC) noted that the veto shows where President Bush's priorities are. 'President Bush,' Clyburn intoned, 'has shown the American people that his priorities are not with our nation's uninsured. His priorities are not with the millions of families struggling to make ends meet. This president will have you believe that it is more important to reach out to America's millionaires and billionaires.'

The override vote in the House of Representatives has been set for October 18th.

--Joel Wendland can be reached at