ProgressOhio

Americans United for Change, a Progress Ohio partner, has unveiled a new TV ad campaign taking Republican Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH) to task for continuing to stand in the way of healthcare for 10 million kids.

The new ad, which will air in the Cincinnati media market, asks Chabot “What if it was your child, Congressman Chabot? What if your child didn’t have health coverage?” and ends with “How do you sleep at night, Congressman?”

Chabot has repeatedly voted against reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) - legislation that would continue to provide healthcare coverage for 6.6 million kids and provide coverage to nearly 4 million more low income children, including thousands in Ohio.

On October 24th, without the support of Rep. Chabot, the U.S. House passed a revised version of the bipartisan children's healthcare bill that included language to address any and all of his bogus concerns about illegal immigrants, adults and children from high-income families benefiting from the program.

But even with these concerns effectively taken off the table, Chabot still chose to stand with Bush over the thousands of parents in his district who go to bed every night praying their children don't get sick or hurt.  Though the legislation to reauthorize and enhance SCHIP has passed the House and Senate for the second time with wide bipartisan majorities, Rep. Chabot continues to side with Bush's Republican allies in the House who intend vote to once again to sustain a promised veto of SCHIP.   

 "Rep. Chabot is all out of excuses, yet he continues to play a partisan game with legislation that would mean healthcare for thousands of kids from working families in Ohio," said Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director of Progress Ohio.  "Rep. Chabot should explain how he can support spending half a trillion dollars fighting an endless war in Iraq, but oppose spending a fraction of that on healthcare for his most vulnerable constituents here at home: low-income kids?  Those are truly frightening priorities. The fact is, for what we spend in just one week in Iraq, 800,000 children could get health insurance for an entire year." 

 "It's time for Rep. Chabot to stop the partisan rhetoric and provide the treatment our kids deserve.  These are not illegal immigrants - these are not adults and children from high-income families.  These are kids whose parents work hard but can't afford private insurance and are not disadvantaged enough to qualify for Medicaid.  Rep. Chabot will certainly get another chance to do the right thing and help provide 10 million American children the healthcare they need and deserve.  However, if he continues to stand in the way of healthcare for kids while supporting a blank check for President Bush's failed war in Iraq, one would have to ask him "How do you sleep at night, Congressman?"