October 17, 2007

Etheridge switches vote — now for child health

Posted at 4:15 PM by Adam Searing

Representative Bob Etheridge notified the press today that he will vote to override Bush's veto of the child health bill tomorrow.   This follows Representative McIntyre's switch on Monday of this week.  Now I feel really guilty about being so critical of their earlier votes against the bill.  Actually not, but I'm ecstatic they've decided to do the right thing.

There will be lots of speculation about the pressure brought to bear on these two legislators.  I know that many of their constituents contacted them about this bill and that the press coverage was almost uniformly for the health bill and against their votes.  Behind the scenes though I have heard that Governor Easley really went to bat for the child health program and has used the power and pressure of his office to help convince these two Representatives to do the right thing for NC children.  Success has many fathers as they say, but there's nothing like a firm call from your home state governor to make even the most experienced member of Congress think twice about a bad decision.

Finally, this puts NC Republicans – who all voted against child health – in the bad position of no longer having the excuse that "many Democrats" voted against the bill as Rep. Virginia Foxx says.   In fact, they really didn't have that excuse in the first place.  Uh, Virginia – 45 Republicans in the House supported the bill, eight Democrats voted against it and it passed with 265 votes.  Isn't it time to stop with the desperate excuses?

Will all NC Republicans vote again against child health insurance tomorrow?  We'll find out. 

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8 Comments

8 Comments Add yours »

James 17 Oct 2007 4:57 pm

Flipper Hayes is certainly feeling the heat, but he may be like one of those frogs in boiling water – too oblivious to do anything about it.

What’s with Republicans and their fascination with boiling stuff?

Stephanie Bass 17 Oct 2007 8:00 pm

It’s great that Reps. McIntyre and Etheridge are voting with the kids. Kudos to them and to all who support them in this position. We will all be better off with more kids getting good basic health care. There’s just no downside.

eugene barufkin 17 Oct 2007 10:42 pm

I love the phrase “Bush Dog Democrat”
thanks

sturner 18 Oct 2007 8:06 am

Thank you to Reps. McIntyre and Etheridge. I’m glad you proved me wrong. Please take a moment and thank them.

http://www.house.gov/mcintyre/IMA/issue.htm

and…

http://www.house.gov/etheridge/contactbob.htm

James 18 Oct 2007 9:01 am

Thanks for the links. Done and done.

Fred Waddle Sr VP Governmental Relations 18 Oct 2007 11:02 am

Easter Seals National Convention was held earlier in the week with Tuesday being a Capital Hill day for delegates from across the country to visit Senators and representatives presenting information on SCHIP and other relevant health issues. Easter Seals UCP North Carolina had several volunteer board members and staff visit many of the Senator and Representative offices in support of the override vote. Information presented back to us was a committment that if the override does not work both Republicans and Democrats were pledgein to immediately work on a compromise bill so that children already enrolled with SCHIP plans would not lose health coverage. Today we should hear those reults and we appreciate Rep Etheridge and McIntyre committment to change thier vote for the override.

Francis DeLuca 18 Oct 2007 4:57 pm

You gave it a shot but it looked like sound thinking won oversound bites (children, health, poor..) and the President’s veto stood.

For a look at what might be the stakes going forward…http://redclaycitizen.typepad.com/redclay/2007/10/a-skirmish-won.html

aplum 19 Oct 2007 9:28 am

Sound thinking won? More like party politics. Forget what voters in the home district want (51% favor SCHIP according to the latest Civitas News Maker Poll results), some Republican representative think it’s more important to keep the party officials happy so the money keeps flowing come election time.

BTW: Read Schofield ‘Realty Check’ for more info on how Civitas spins their poll results. Pretty humorous.

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