Austin Scott: “this issue boils down to a practicality of ideology. The Republicans and the Bush administration has repeatedly shown…”

“this issue boils down to a practicality of ideology. The Republicans and the Bush administration has repeatedly shown that they really quite honestly do not get it when it comes down to health care, and particularly for those who need the health care the most. This is not just the beginning of this. This argument started back during the winter when there were 17 States who came up short, and we fought and we fought to try to get that shortage fixed. But there was no help until I drafted an amendment, went to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha), and we attached it to the Iraq war supplemental. That is the only way President Bush and the administration signed it. Now, let me just point out two important points. There are scare tactics being used here. Anytime the Republicans and those on the other side want to score a point, they bring up the bogeyman of illegal immigration; these people are going to be illegal aliens. There's nothing in this bill. As a matter of fact, there's express language that prohibits in this bill any illegal immigrant or undocumented person from being eligible for this children's health program. You talk about there are adults on the bill. There are no adults on this bill except an adult who happens to be pregnant with child for prenatal care. Should they not have that care? That strikes at the heart of this bill. I urge everyone to not go with this sad argument and let's sustain and override this veto coming up on January 23.”