Daily News Roundup, 10/25/07: Son of SCHIP

Looks like Congressional Democrats are about ready for Round Two. According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, today will see another vote on the State Children's Health Insurance Program increases that President Bush vetoed — and at the original $35 billion level, no less.

The new bill on the floor addressed three principal Republican complaints with the original bill — and, go figure, two of the "changes" are simply clarifications to shoot down false Republican talking points. The bill states more clearly that illegal immigrants aren't eligible for coverage under SCHIP, and it clarifies that the income cap is at 300% of the federal poverty level, not the 400% $83,000 per year number that Republicans were falsely pegging to the original bill.

The only actual change is for states that allow some childless adults benefits under SCHIP. The original bill phased out their coverage after two years, whereas the new bill does it in one.

Of course, the full-court press is on on both sides to sway votes on the bill. But the Democratic leadership seemed pretty enthused in their surprise announcement yesterday to have a vote today. I wouldn't be too surprised if the vote itself was delayed another day or two so that the changes can be pitched to moderate Republicans; then again, House Dems may be counting on the quick turnaround to stymie the House minority whip's chances to beat the fold into submission. Either way, I can understand their focus on this issue. I want this bill to pass, as I imagine everyone does, but I'm also pretty aware of the fact that every time Bush vetoes children's health care, it's like handing the Democratic Party candy.

That's the good news. The bad news: Senate Republicans successfully filibustered the DREAM Act, which gave a path to citizenship to children of illegal immigrants who graduate from high school and attend two years of college or serve in the military.

High school graduates who have served their country in the military, or which are successful college students — now why would we not want them in the American work force, again?

Oh, but it gets better. Senator Dick Durbin invited some students whose parents were illegal immigrants to lobby for the legislation he sponsored. Representative and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo (R-Jingoism) tried to get them arrested. Unsuccessfully, mind you, as all three of them had been given temporary residence extensions. Thank you, Rep. Tancredo, for making your party look as loony as you are. The cloud of the filibuster is still there, but you're my silver lining.

Climate change is back in the news, and ironically, it's in the news specifically because of the administration's attempts to stifle it. Yes, again. The Centers of Disease Control, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, gave congressional testimony over climate change and its potential impact on health. But her four-page testimony was substantially shorter than the fourteen-page document she originally submitted to the White House's Office of Management and Budget for review. Of course, I'm sure the OMB simply thought it was trimming fluff from that report, right? CNN has the AP report that quotes an anonymous source as saying that wasn't quite the end result. Instead, the document was "eviscerated." Pretty harsh.

The White House tried to spin the cuts, of course. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters, "As I understand it, in the draft there was broad characterizations about climate change science that didn't align with the IPCC." The Washington Post decided to check up on that:

But several experts on the public health impact of climate change, having reviewed Gerberding's testimony, said there were no inconsistencies between the original testimony and the IPCC's recent reports.

"That's nonsense," said University of Wisconsin at Madison public health professor Jonathan Patz, who served as an IPCC lead author for its 2007, 2001 and 1995 reports. "Dr. Gerberding's testimony was scientifically accurate and absolutely in line with the findings of the IPCC."

IPCC lead author, huh? It's okay; Dana Perino didn't lie — that was simply the facts "as she understood them." Second verse, same as the first.

Want to know how this affects Texas? Well, you could ask climate expert James Hansen, but you probably won't like the answers. I suppose they're not much different than normal — more extreme weather events at each end of the spectrum — but that's a little more disturbing after the slew of extreme weather and drought-related conditions we've been seeing across the country in the past few years. (On that note, our prayers and best wishes go out to California residents on this fifth day of continuing wildfires in the state.)

In other local news, 300 Texas lawyers joined forces with the Texas Civil Rights Project to call for electronic filings in capital cases in light of the recent execution of Michael Richard on September 25 when Presiding Judge Sharon Keller refused to accept a late filing for appeal based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that same day. The petition was also signed by four former Texas State Bar presidents and two former Texas Supreme Court justices. From the article:

Allowing briefs to be filed electronically — a practice allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. district courts in Texas — is long overdue and is a small step toward correcting shortcomings in the state's capital punishment system, said Charles Herring, a prominent civil lawyer who led the petition effort with Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

"The question is, why do we need to do this?" Harrington said.

"Why didn't the court itself begin the process of preventing future situations" like Richard's?

That's a pretty good question.

And finally today, I couldn't possibly close out a news roundup without throwing in at least a bit of presidential analysis. So I say to you, head on over to WaPo and check out Howard Kurtz's Special Long-Shot Edition. Any analysis of presidential candidates that leads off with Stephen Colbert gets two thumbs up in my book.