Issa supports war, profits over children's healthcare

As predicted, Rep. Darrell Issa voted against, and as promised, George W. Bush vetoed a highly popular bipartisan bill that would provide healthcare for uninsured needy American children. There are nine million of them. The American people pleaded for this protection for our kids and the vast majority of Congress heeded – but not Issa.

These children happen to have parents who aren’t lucky enough to have jobs that provide healthcare benefits for their families. That is not an unusual circumstance nowadays. But Mr. Bush and Issa have little empathy for these children. After all, they have gold-plated government insurance.

George W. Bush declared himself a “compassionate conservative,” so where is the compassion in depriving America’s innocent children of healthcare that could save their lives? And where is the compassion of Issa, who stands on his high economic principles of privatization and profit at the expense of the principle of first duty to our children?

Bush claims the children’s health insurance bill would amount to too much spending and that it borders on socialized medicine, yet this system has been working well for a decade on the state level and a proposed tobacco tax hike would pay for it.

The vetoed bill would cost $35 billion over five years. Bush proclaims that as an excuse for his veto. It’s just too much spending, he tells us.

But consider this: the Bush war is costing us $200 billion per year and it is not even being funded. The Bush War is operated completely on borrowed money.

Bush laments the tax burden placed upon tobacco companies but ignores the infinitely greater burden placed on these same children, who will inherit the crushing, usurious debt of this war.

Consider also this: the same corporations eliminating employee heath coverage are the same ones who got the Bush tax cuts.

Issa is supposed to represent us, but he chose instead to represent the profits of war and the insurance industry. Issa has betrayed America’s values, but worse, our children.

Joe Crews