GOP Attack On The Middle Class

As I'm writing this, the House of Representatives is moments away from voting on the attempt to override President Bush's veto of the SCHIP bill. I think the debate has been impressive, including the arguments of Carol Shea-Porter, a Democrat from New Hampshire. Rep. Shea-Porter noted the irony implicit in her attendance at hearings regarding contractor abuse in Iraq, and here the Administration is striving to deny health care to children whose family is too poor to qualify for Medicaid. She also refuted claims by the Bushies that coverage under this bill would include affluent families, including the charge that children from households with incomes up to $83,000 would be covered in- what is it now, New Jersey or New York (in either case, states with extraordinarily high costs of living)?

The Representatives fighting hard to expand health coverage for children need to be lauded. However, there are two underlying issues which, understandably, politicians from neither side of the issue choose to give voice to.

There is a significant contingent of politician (note especially the Repub Presidential field) which wants as much money and control in the health care system to remain in private hands, notwithstanding the enormous cost to the public and the failure to provide adequate care to Americans generally. But something else is at work here.


Repub conservatives (excluding those wise enough to support override) really are concerned, as they claim to be, that more middle class (though they avoid this term) children would be helped by this bill. As they note, this is a program devised to assist children from families of modest means. Now some people, primarily, though not exclusively, Democrats, want to assist middle class families by the same legislation through the same mechanism. This is beyond a major problem for the Repub Party. The idea that the middle class- always, but especially now- has needs that the working poor traditionally have had is dangerous. The concept that the working poor are different from the rest of us- and that the interests of the middle class are those of the wealthy and of corporate special interests the Repub Party exists to serve- is fundamental to the health and prosperity of the GOP. Start to break that down, and there is trouble (eventually) ahead for the party.