The Republicans who face tough races finally give a SCHIP

SCHIP [State Children's Health Insurance Program] is a program that provides health insurance for 6.6 million children nationwide. NJ FamilyCare, which receives SCHIP grants, covers 127,000 kids and 83,000 adults. Yesterday, there was a bill in Congress which would serve to increase funding, and extend coverage to more of New Jersey's poorest working families.

And all the New Jersey Republicans in Congress, with the exception of Frank LoBiondo and Michael Ferguson, voted against New Jersey’s children. Shame on them for voting against children from poor families in New Jersey.

Yup, those are family values for Republicans.

LoBiondo and Ferguson face very tough races next year, have been targeted by the DCCC…and now they’re showing their “compassionate conservative” side. Good for them, and I hope they finally start to vote against the war, too. But I doubt it.

Shame on the rest ---- Republican Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Jim Saxton and Chris Smith who voted NO. They, who vote to increase the number of troops sent to Iraq, but vote against the interests of New Jersey’s working families.

According to the Courier Post, Rep. Frank Pallone is a big supporter of the increase in aid to working families of New Jersey: "There shouldn't be any doubt today about what the Republicans are trying to do: They're trying to destroy the SCHIP program," Pallone said. "This bill would cover another 5 million children who're currently uninsured. . . . They're not proposing to cover any additional kids. They want to cut back."

This is a bi-partisan bill that has received support from forty-three governors, Democrats and Republicans, wrote to Bush last month supporting SCHIP renewal.

Republicans like Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Jim Saxton and Chris Smith who voted no criticized the bill by saying things like the bill represents "the single largest step in Washington-controlled, bureaucratized, socialized health care."

Tell that to the children who won’t get health coverage because your president will likely veto the bill.

And people ask me why I am Democrat. Republicans worry about such different things than I do.