Ted Kennedy on Hillary's role in the creation of SCHIP...

[SaveElmer]

"The children's health program wouldn't be in existence today if we didn't have Hillary pushing for it from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue," Kennedy told The Associated Press.

[IndianaGreen]

1. That quote is how many decades old?

Remember Chamberlain saying "peace in our time."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Why Are You Comparing A Quote That Seems To Be Prophetic To A Quote That Has Become A Target Of

Derision?

[IndianaGreen]

6. The deification of Hillary includes giving her credit for all successes, whether deserved or not,

and ignoring all the failures. A similar deification process took place in China under Mao, and exists today under Kim Jong Il.

[durrrty libby]

15. "deification " ?? Idiocy at the DU knows no bounds

[SaveElmer]

19. In the case of Indiana and her "insights"...

I would say defecation is more appropriate...

[SaveElmer]

3. So you think Ted Kennedy is lying?...nt

[Colobo]

4. No, Elmer. She is saying the quote is old.

[SaveElmer]

8. What difference does it make how old it is...

SCHIP is certainly relevant now...I see people here debunking her role in its creation...

Well the author of the legislation in Congress is setting the record straight...

If the age of something is a criteria to relevance half the bullshit anti-Hillary posts here would not exist...

[wyldwolf]

26. I decree that anything a candidate has done more than... a year old? Two? Be null and void!

... unless it's a "progressive."

(So sayeth Indiana Green)

[Just-plain-Kathy]

50. How old Hillary's statement is does make a big difference...

...especially if you were trying to pass it off as new. You got caught so you claim her statement is still relevant.

...I once posted a quote from wikipedia. It was about Clinton’s Telecommunications Act of 1998. It spoke about Clinton’s part in consolidating the ownership of our media outlets, giving us the neo-corporate media we have now. ....Well a Hillary supporter didn’t like the quote and admittedly went into wikipedia and changed it.

..Then there's a Hillary supporter here who constantly posts a picture of a "Hillary pep rally". The photo is made to look as if the crowd was much bigger than it was. ....The point that I’m trying to make is that Hillary’s “team” is just like Bush’s, they’re very good at playing the “game”, and can’t be trusted.

[IndianaGreen]

5. No, but that's what Ted said a long time ago. Kerry wrote the bill, not Hillary!

Kerry fought for it, not Hillary.

[SaveElmer]

10. So you are saying Ted Kennedy is lying then...

Who claimed Hillary authored the bill...?

[IndianaGreen]

12. I said what I said, not what you are trying to spin n/t

:eyes:

[SaveElmer]

16. Man you can't even keep your own bullshit straight...

IndianaGreen: "Kerry fought for it, not Hillary."

Ted Kennedy: "The children's health program wouldn't be in existence today if we didn't have Hillary pushing for it from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue,"

So who is lying...you or Ted Kennedy...?

[frazzled]

25. SCHIPS was part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997

Put through by the Republican-led Congress together with Clinton. I don't know what Kerry had to do with that, except he apparently had some bill that was a "precursor" to this type of program.

Look, Ted Kennedy has always, always been at the forefront of medical legislation in the Senate--for decades and decades. He is Mr. Health Care. You can take his word to the bank if he says H. Clinton was instrumental in getting it passed. Probably B. Clinton's reluctance had to do with other aspects of the Balanced Budget Act ... it was only 10 years ago, but I am not remembering it that well.

[Zandor]

40. So you were a big Kerry supporter in 2004 !!!

No? Oh...

[Mass]

41. Why are Hillary's supporters so insecure that they need to pull a quote

by Kennedy out of all context? Why is this quote important? Kennedy made identical quotes concerning Hatch. Is he a strong voice for universal healthcare?

There is no doubt that Hillary had a role in S-CHIP, among many other people. His role seems to have brought the WH on board. Good for her, but why all the circus and basically the need to be sure nobody else will be credited for anything (I am sure plenty deserve credit). If her role is that important, who cares who else is important.

[Zandor]

44. Read posts 4 and 5

I was responding to someone clearly trying to discredit Hillary, and is irrational to boot.

Maybe we should just let IG talk on about Hillary. Would probably do Hillary a world of good here.

[Mass]

Well, the quote is old and out of any context.

That is all that the two answers were pointing at.

It still does not explain why Hillary's supporters feel so threatened that they cannot let anybody else get some credit out of it. Well, they will let Kennedy because it always good to have worked with Kennedy, even if, placed in context, the quote states a lot less than what some of her supporters in the thread imply.

[beachmom]

51. Hillary fought for it from the WH prodding her husband to support it:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEFDC113CF932A2575BC0A961958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=2

But one of the toughest political hurdles still lay ahead.

Republicans had to get Mr. Lott to bend and the Democrats had to prod the President into standing firm on the $24 billion figure and the cigarette tax.

Congressional aides said Mr. Hatch, Mr. Chafee and other Republican Senators, including Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York, had convinced Mr. Lott that the party would find itself in the kind of public relations thicket that had ensnarled House Republicans if they allowed Mr. Kennedy and other Democrats to hammer away at the issue.

Participants in the campaign for the health bill both on and off Capitol Hill said the First Lady had played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in lining up White House support.

But Mr. Clinton did not appear to move on the issue until a meeting at the White House on July 22 with an agitated Mr. Kennedy.

The next day in a ceremony on childhood immunizations, Mr. Clinton committed publicly to fight for the Senate plan with its higher spending for child health insurance.


Kerry wrote the original bill with Kennedy:

Not long before last fall's elections, Mr. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, the junior Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, introduced a bill that proposed paying for health insurance for uninsured children through a tobacco tax, a law that was already in place in their state.



Crazy as it may be, everyone is right. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were very good on this. Kennedy was KING on it.

[karynnj]

54. No - he was crediting her with pushing her husband to keep it

after it passed a Republican dominated Senate.

[Lucinda]

7. Does it's age make it any less accurate?

[IndianaGreen]

9. "What have you done for me lately?" applies in politics as it does in interpersonal relations

Every divorced man or woman remembers what it was like to be in love with the person they now loath. The same principle applies here with Hillary.

[Lucinda]

14. Not for me when in comes to electing a President

I'm a sum total kind of gal. I look at everything. Errors, triumphs, changes in thinking. It all adds up to create the person we are electing.

[Mass]

11. Does that mean that Bill Clinton was against it? Because it is what the quote seems to imply?

That the WH was not for it and that he needed help there.

Whom in the Senate would have Hillary helped with? Democrats were with it. She probably could not convince the Republicans to go for it if Orrin Hatch, co-sponsor of the bill could not.

I am sure she was supportive of the bill, but, once again, I would expect most Democrats were. I am curious to see in what context the quote was made, because, sometimes, people need to make polite compliments that do not mean a lot (Sam Fox calling Kerry a hero comes to mind, not that Clinton or Kennedy can be compared to Fox, of course).

[IndianaGreen]

13. I am sure that Bill was distracted by other, more mundane matters.

As he certainly will be again when he returns to the White House. Bill won't let us down when it comes to filling our empty, shallow lives, with entertainment and gossip.

[Mass]

17. I was half joking, but apparently, I was right. Hillary convinced Bill.

the great progressive, to support a healthcare bill for kids. Good for her, but not so great for him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/us/politics/05adbox.html?ref=politics

Aides to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, have credited her with persuading a wavering President Bill Clinton to support the creation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997
...

[durrrty libby]

21. I firmly believe that as terrific as Bill was, she will be even better.

[durrrty libby]

18. "our empty, shallow lives", Of course, speaking only for yourself

I am quite sure your life is as you say....empty and shallow, mine is not.


Maybe this will help. www.mycommitment.org See what Bill has really been up to.

[juajen]

45. Don't you ever get tired of this monotony?

I'm not even sure who you support? Is it Dennis?

[Maribelle]

20. Bill was the one that assigned Hillary to work on universal health insurance

In 1993 Haillary and the task force designed the process they named Kids First, which is now called S-CHIPS.

[Mass]

24. This is actually false, but if you want to rewrite history. The quote actually refers to the WH

being hesitant to support S-CHIP, as explained both in the AP and in the NYtimes reports from where this quote has been fished and that Tellurian nicely provided. I am sure you will agree(s) he is NOT a Hillary basher.

First Kids is a memo from the WH. S-CHIP is a bill originating from the Senate. I guess they both have some common principles, but other senators had presented bills that look a lot like S-CHIP, starting by my two senators as well. So, saying that a memo from Hillary had a major role in creating this bill is false. It seems however that Hillary had a major role convincing her husband to support it.

[Maribelle]

28. SCHIP was founded by Senator Ted Kennedy and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a national program in the United States which was founded by Senator Ted Kennedy and First Lady (now a senator from New York) Hillary Rodham Clinton. The program provides health insurance for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, yet cannot afford to buy private insurance. The program was created to address the growing number of children in the United States without health insurance. At its creation in 1997, SCHIP was the largest expansion of health insurance coverage for children in the United States since Medicaid began in the 1960s. The statutory authority for SCHIP is under title XXI of the Social Security Act. A proposal recently passed in the Congress to expand SCHIP from $5 billion yearly by $35 billion over five years was vetoed by George W. Bush.<1>.<2> The veto follows changes of program administrative rules in August which make it more difficult for states to expand eligibility.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Children's_Health_Insurance_Program

[ProSense]

31. Kennedy

used this bill written by Kerry, which he co-sponsored.

Now you can't argue that Kerry didn't write the bill, Kennedy didn't co-sponsor it and that 1996 doesn't predate 1997.

Senator Kerry was there at the beginning of the fight to provide the largest investment in children’s health care since the creation of Medicaid. His 1996 bill, the “Healthy Children, Family Assistance Health Insurance Program,” was the precursor to the successful SCHIP program, which became law in 1997 and provides funding to cover 5 million children.

lik

[Maribelle]

36. I've heard there were even other democrats working on childrens health insurance as well.

Kerry's bill which you linked to is somewhat different. I've never read the final one, do you have a link?

[ProSense]

39. Precursor means just that, precursor. n/t

[beachmom]

53. NYT confirms in this excellent article that Kerry/Kennedy was the bill that started it.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEFDC113CF932A2575BC0A961958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=1

Not long before last fall's elections, Mr. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, the junior Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, introduced a bill that proposed paying for health insurance for uninsured children through a tobacco tax, a law that was already in place in their state.



This article is a real history of how children's health insurance became law. It started with the above bill. Not the others.

[karynnj]

56. Read the NYT article from when S-CHIP passed

Sure there were other Senators who introduced bills, but it was the bill referred to as Kerr/Kennedy that was the basis of the bill Kennedy and Hatch called S-CHIP.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEFDC113CF932A2575BC0A961958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=1

[beachmom]

52. That sounds ceremonial to me. The bill originated from the Senate.

The framework came from Kerry/Kennedy, and then Kennedy persuaded Hatch to sign on. The First Lady came into this later when she had to persuade Bill to support it.

[karynnj]

55. Wikipedia is suspect in that anyone can edit it

read the NYT article that was written when the bill was passed.

The bill was Kennedy/Hatch and was based on Kerry/Kennedy which emulated a MA bill that had then recently passed. Clinton helped by being a strong force in getting her husband to not drop it.

[Debi]

22. Hillary Clinton was President???

*sigh*

next OP title "Barack Obama addresses National Convention" (...........dated July 2004 shhhhhhhhhh)

[Cameron27]

23. Good for Hillary,

apparently she was pushing Bill to support this.

[movonne]

27. I don't think anyone is saying the hillary never did anything good, she

has...but it all the things she has done wrong that we bitch about...such as: lieberman-kyl amendment, mark penn, the war vote and not saying she was wrong on that,being the last one to sign the torture bill...If she is to be a leader she should not be the last to sign, but the first, being chummy with murdoch and many other things that we are worried about...

[SaveElmer]

29. Sure they are...constantly...for gods sake her laugh became a source...

Of criticism...

The Hillary hysteria ratchets up on a daily basis here...which is a testament to how well she is doing...every report of her success is greeted with a new round of whacked out, over the top accusations that everyone here is absolutely sure will finally bring her down...

[IndianaGreen]

30. but we love you anyway....

(cackle) (cackle)

[durrrty libby]

35. And please let us know how Bill's website helped you. I'm pulling for you

www.mycommitment.org

[Debi]

32. Death of a thousand paper cuts?

:shrug:

[Skip Intro]

37. They call her a whore, come on. Democrats - or so it would seem.

she's not my first choice, but to say there isn't unbridled hatred of her on display here on DU by a certain segment is to have one's head in the sand. I saw it in 03/04 directed toward Kerry - who was also not my first choice. There were influxes of new DUers in the run up to and during the primaries, contingents that sprung up to support this or that candidate, and slime and trash at every opportunity said candidate's most realisitic rival.


The hatred for Hillary on this board has sickened me. The venom spewed toward her - sometimes I feel like I'm on fr.


btw, she's said she regretted her vote, that's good enough for me at this point - Edwards voted for it also, but uses the word "apologize" instead of "regret." I knew the attack on Iraq was BS from the get go, but I do believe our Representatives and Senators were lied to during the run up. Either Hillary voted for the IWR knowing bush would shock and awe Iraq to death, or she was lied into voting for it. Knowing who'd be doing the lying, I'll take Hillary's word for now.

[Maribelle]

33. Kennedy the driving force behind the program, and the former first lady's pressure was crucial

"She wasn't a legislator, she didn't write the law, and she wasn't the president, so she didn't make the decisions", says Nick Littlefield, then a senior health adviser to Kennedy. "But we relied on her, worked with her and she was pivotal in encouraging the White House to do it."

After the first lady's effort to enact universal health insurance went down to calamitous defeat in late 1994, she and other White House officials began looking for smaller changes that could win bipartisan support. Republicans had taken control of both the House and Senate that year.


A similar effort was taking place on Capitol Hill, with Sen. Edward Kennedy playing a lead role. One area he and the Clintons explored involved expanding health insurance coverage to children who had none.


On Dec. 9, 1996, senior White House health adviser Chris Jennings sent a memo to the first lady outlining several options -- and recommending ways for her to increase her visibility on the issue.


With his wife's backing, President Clinton announced a plan to expand health coverage to as many as 5 million children in his 1997 State of the Union address.


Kennedy, meanwhile, introduced legislation based on a Massachusetts model with Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch as the lead Republican co-sponsor. The bill called for $20 billion in grants to states, paid for in part by raising the federal tax on cigarettes.


Gene Sperling, a Hillary Clinton campaign adviser who served as one of President Clinton's lead budget negotiators in 1997, said efforts to include children's health coverage were constrained by a balanced budget agreement between the White House and Republican congressional leaders.


But he said Hillary Clinton pushed hard and even favored boosting the price tag to $24 billion, instead of the $16 billion that had been floated as a compromise.


"Her office was across from mine, and I knew what her priorities were", Sperling said. "I remember her having a lot of influence -- you're getting this done because you know the first lady wants it."


The effort nearly went off the rails when Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Republican, said it violated the balanced budget agreement. President Clinton, eager to preserve the agreement, actually phoned lawmakers to kill the legislation when it came to the Senate floor.


Hillary Clinton defended her husband's action at the time. "He had to safeguard the overall budget proposal", she told one audience. But she insisted he would find other ways to provide health coverage for kids.


The effort was revived, with Kennedy, Hatch and a coalition of advocacy groups ranging from the Children's Defense Fund to the Girl Scouts lobbying hard. Kennedy made a special appeal to the first lady, who added her pressure anew.


"The children's health program wouldn't be in existence today if we didn't have Hillary pushing for it from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue", Kennedy told The Associated Press.


President Clinton signed the bill in August 1997.


While Kennedy is widely viewed as the driving force behind the program, by all accounts the former first lady's pressure was crucial.


"She wasn't a legislator, she didn't write the law, and she wasn't the president, so she didn't make the decisions", says Nick Littlefield, then a senior health adviser to Kennedy. "But we relied on her, worked with her and she was pivotal in encouraging the White House to do it."

http://news.usti.net/home/news/cn/?/usa.gov.white_house/2/wed/ap/Aclinton-fact-check.RNQL_HO5.html

[ProSense]

34. Kennedy and Kerry speak on the floor, October 1, 1996

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS (Senate - October 01, 1996)

[Mass]

38. I do not think that we disagree with Maribelle. Hillary convinced her husband to support Kennedy's

bill. I think it is good.

This said, nothing in the quote she gives us nor in Kennedy's quote says she had an important role in defining what is in the bill. Except if she can give us a quote, of course, not coming from the Hillary campaign. Somehow, the fact that Kerry was an important participant in writing the bill (Though I am sure it was somewhat different from Kerry-Kennedy 1996 or it would not have been supported by Hatch) and that Hillary was important in getting the bill to be supported by the White House is NOT contradictory.

[ProudDad]

43. Yeah, right. I can hear it now:

Late at night at the White House:

Hillary: "If you ever want to stick that thing into me again, you'll sign that bill!"

Slick Willie: "Ok, hon. Whatever you say. Please touch it now, I'm going to explode if you don't!!!"

And lo, we get SCHIP signed...

[durrrty libby]

47. Wow So you are writing really lame slash fiction about the Clintons

What a pathetic little sex obsessed fella.

[durrrty libby]

48. I'd alert,, but it is so much better to see an ugly exposed

ass for what it is

[ProudDad]

42. Yeah, right

after she totally fucked up any chance at Universal coverage she had to get SOME money for Bill's major contributors in the health insurance mafia.

SCHIP would be completely unnecessary if we had Universal Single-Payer (that hillary would NEVER get behind):

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676_2.htm

Brief Summary of HR 676

· The United States National Health Insurance Act establishes an American national health insurance program. The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered health care system that uses the already existing Medicare program by expanding and improving it to all U.S. residents, and all residents living in U.S. territories. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans will have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective health care services regardless of their employment, income, or health status.
· With over 45-75 million uninsured Americans, and another 50 million who are under- insured, the time has come to change our inefficient and costly fragmented non health care system.

Who is Eligible

· Every person living in or visiting the United States and the U.S. Territories would receive a United States National Health Insurance Card and ID number once they enroll at the appropriate location. Social Security numbers may not be used when assigning ID cards.

Health Care Services Covered

· This program will cover all medically necessary services, including primary care, in patient care, outpatient care, emergency care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, long term care, mental health services, dentistry, eye care, chiropractic, and substance abuse treatment. Patients have their choice of physicians, providers, hospitals, clinics and practices. No co-pays or deductibles are permitted under this act.

Conversion To A Non-Profit Health Care System

· Private health insurers shall be prohibited under this act from selling coverage that duplicates the benefits of the USNHI program. Exceptions to this rule include coverage for cosmetic surgery, and other medically unnecessary treatments. Those who are displaced as the result of the transition to a non- profit health care system are the first to be hired and retrained under this act.

Cost Containment Provisions/ Reimbursement

· The National USNHI program will set reimbursement rates annually for physicians, allow for "global budgets" (annual lump sums for operating expenses) for health care providers; and negotiate prescription drug prices. The national office will provide an annual lump sum allotment to each existing Medicare region; each region will administer the program.

· The conversion to a not-for-profit health care system will take place over a 15 year period. U.S. treasury bonds will be sold to compensate investor-owned providers for the actual appraised value of converted facilities used in the delivery of care; payment will not be made for loss of business profits. Health insurance companies could be sub-contracted out to handle reimbursements.

Proposed Funding For USNHI Program:

· Maintaining current federal and state funding of existing health care programs. A modest payroll tax on all employers of 3.3%. A 5% health tax on the top 5% of income earners. A small tax on stock and bond transfers. Closing corporate tax loop-holes, repealing the Bush tax cut.

[dmr]

46. Here's what the Guardian has to say about the quote

I have a problem with post that contain no link, so I Googled the quote and found this Guardian article. While the article was posted yesterday, the 5th, the quote is dated back to around 1997, which helps to put it into context.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6975474,00.html

Clinton claims significant credit for helping launch the effort - formally the state Children's Health Care Insurance Program - as first lady during her husband's second term. Her new television ads prominently mention it as evidence of her long-term commitment to health care and children.

- snip -

The effort nearly went off the rails when Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Republican, said it violated the balanced budget agreement. President Clinton, eager to preserve the agreement, actually phoned lawmakers to kill the legislation when it came to the Senate floor.

Hillary Clinton defended her husband's action at the time. ``He had to safeguard the overall budget proposal,'' she told one audience. But she insisted he would find other ways to provide health coverage for kids.

The effort was revived, with Kennedy, Hatch and a coalition of advocacy groups ranging from the Children's Defense Fund to the Girl Scouts lobbying hard. Kennedy made a special appeal to the first lady, who added her pressure anew.

``The children's health program wouldn't be in existence today if we didn't have Hillary pushing for it from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue,'' Kennedy told The Associated Press.

President Clinton signed the bill in August 1997.

While Kennedy is widely viewed as the driving force behind the program, by all accounts the former first lady's pressure was crucial.

``She wasn't a legislator, she didn't write the law, and she wasn't the president, so she didn't make the decisions,'' says Nick Littlefield, then a senior health adviser to Kennedy. ``But we relied on her, worked with her and she was pivotal in encouraging the White House to do it.''

- End of article -

[ProudDad]

49. ...

"FACT CHECK:

After the first lady's effort to enact universal health insurance went down to calamitous defeat in late 1994, she and other White House officials began looking for smaller changes that could win bipartisan support. Republicans had taken control of both the House and Senate that year."

[karynnj]

57. They were looking - But Kennedy

was the one who with Hatch took an innovative bill called Kerry/Kennedy that was based on a MA bill and created S-CHIP. Hillary helped keep Bill Clinton on board.