"Tancredo Blasts Dems for Funding Illegal Alien Healthcare" (SCHIP)

I've been woefully remiss in discussing the attempts involving the "SCHIP"/"S-CHIP" plan, partly because I don't understand all the details. However:
U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) today criticized Congressional Democrats for eliminating a requirement that anyone applying for Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) services provide proof of U.S. citizenship. The new Democrat plan would raise taxes and make it easier for illegal aliens to obtain taxpayer-funded medical benefits.

"Again, the Democrats have proven their loyalty to illegal aliens over American citizens," Tancredo said referring to the failed Senate Amnesty plan. "Rather than help middle class families as they promised, Congressional Democrats are squeezing tax dollars out of Americans in order to benefit those who have violated our laws."
Also see "A new entitlement for illegals":
Unsatisfied with thwarting a Republican effort to authorize $3 billion for a border fence, congressional Democrats are trying to enhance the incentive for illegal aliens to enter the United States by removing the citizenship requirement from the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The Republican Congress in 1996 passed legislation blocking people who are in the country illegally from claiming benefits from the federal government, and when SCHIP was created in 1997, states were required to verify citizenship. But Democrats want to take that sensible requirement for Medicaid and SCHIP and leave it to the discretion of each state...

...Recall that SCHIP was born out of a failed attempt at government-run universal health coverage. Indeed, the Democratic expansion of SCHIP will actually allow children who currently have private health insurance to switch to the federally subsidized program, saddling taxpayers with yet another entitlement burden. In the wake of the defeat of the immigration amnesty bill last month, open-borders advocates are attempting to implement their agenda using a piecemeal approach.
8/3/07 UPDATE: Apparently the vote on SCHIP or something similar resulted in a parliamentary crisis on the House floor. From this:
Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving any federal funds apportioned in the agricultural spending bill for employment or rental assistance. Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward...

...When Democrats finally moved to consider the spending bill as the last vote of the night, furious Republicans left the chamber en masse to protest the maneuver. The House eventually recessed at 11:18 p.m. But Republicans quickly discovered that there was no longer any record of the controversial vote and immediately charged Democrats with erasing the bad result...

Comments

"In the wake of the defeat of the immigration amnesty bill last month, open-borders advocates are attempting to implement their agenda using a piecemeal approach." DREAM, AgJobs, SCHIP, etc. Here we see the real "clay pigeon".