GRASSLEY TRIES TO TALK SOME SENSE INTO HOUSE REPUBLICANS ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE

It's easy to paint every Republican as a heartless monstrosity who hates children and loves war. After all, their voting records are there for all to see. But the S-CHIP veto but Bush has consistently mustered a few dozen Republicans who abhor the Bush Regime position if not the positioner himself. Today's Congressional Journal has an interesting story about Charles Grassley, a mainstream conservative (as in very conservative though not fascist) Republican senator from Iowa, and his unflinching and aggressive support for children and a bedrock family issue. Grassley will not let the bill die and he's still trying to convince fellow conservatives in the House to sign on and help override Bush's veto. He worked out the compromise with Democrats and wrote a bill he felt Bush and Republicans could support enthusiastically. Many Republicans in the Senate did and 45 in the House did, but still not enough to override Bush's veto in the House. He's willing to compromise on a few more issue-- probably kicking a certain number of children off the coverage plan-- in order to make it more palatable to the anti-family coalition that has stuck by Bush.

If House and Senate Democrats are willing to accept revisions to their latest bill, Grassley and his Senate partners on SCHIP legislation-- Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Finance members Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, and John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va.-- plan to offer an amendment to the measure when it reaches the Senate floor Tuesday or Wednesday.

The bill would then return to the House, which passed it 265-142 on Oct. 25. The chamber’s vote to clear the bill for the White House would show Bush-- and the measure’s supporters-- whether the changes had in fact produced a veto-proof majority in the House.

I wonder how many children have to be abandoned before the last reactionary Democratic holdout who is still sticking with Bush-- Jim Marshall (GA)-- decides to vote for it. Probably a million and he'll buy on.

Right-wing Republican House members coming under the most pressure for their adamant anti-family votes, all members whose seats could be in jeopardy for voting with Bush instead of with their constituents, include:

Rodney Alexander (LA)
Michele Bachmann (MN)
Roscoe Bartlett (MD)
Judith Biggert (IL)
Ginny Brown-Waite (FL)
Dave Camp (MI)
Steve Chabot (OH)
Barbara Cubin (WY)
the Diaz-Balart Brothers (FL)
Thelma Drake (VA)
Vernon Ehlers (MI), flip flopper
Tom Feeney (FL)
Scott Garrett (NJ)
Virgil Goode (VA)
Sam Graves (MO)
Robin Hayes (NC)
Tim Johnson (IL)
Ric Keller (FL)
Joe Knollenberg (MI)
Randy Kuhl (NY)
Michael McCaul (TX)
Thad McCotter (MI)
Marilyn Musgrave (CO)
John Peterson (PA)
Tom Reynolds (NY)
Mike Rogers (MI)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
Bill Sali (ID)
Jim Saxton (NJ)
Mean Jean Schmidt (OH)
Tim Walberg (MI)

The bolded names are those most likely to haved nailed the final nail in their political coffin via the S-CHIP vote to sustain Bush's veto.