Visit to Children's Hospital Underscores McCain's Shortcomings

Don't Believe McBush, Consistent Record of Putting Children At Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 28, 2008

MIAMI - When John McCain visits Miami Children's Hospital today, will he explain why he supported President Bush's veto of health care for 10 million American children?

McCain hasn't made clear what he proposes to do for more than 816,000 children in Florida who have no health insurance.  More than 582,000 of Florida's uninsured children live near or below the poverty line.  [statehealthfacts.org, accessed 4/28/08]

These are statistics not aided by President Bush's reckless veto of the bipartisan SCHIP program.

"John McCain is out of touch with the needs and concerns of Floridians. He can't spot a crisis even from aboard his wife's private jet," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Alejandro Miyar said. "McCain is the same Bush Republican that helped foster this recession as a U.S. Senator. He's already proved that he fails Economics 101, now he has the audacity to visit sick children when he supports efforts to leave them behind."

McCain Opposed Reauthorizing of the SCHIP and Providing Insurance For Millions of Uninsured Children. McCain voted against reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program for five years, expanding the program by $35.2 billion. It would cover children in households with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line. [Senate Vote #307, 8/2/07]

McCain Claimed the Reauthorization Covered Too Many Children. In a speech on the Senate floor regarding the authorization of SCHIP, McCain claimed "the program has expanded beyond what Congress first intended. In some cases, SCHIP coverage has been extended to middle-income children and to certain adult populations." [Congressional Record, 8/2/07]

2005: McCain Chose Tax Breaks For Wealthy Americans Instead of Funding SCHIP. McCain voted against a sense of the senate motion that expressed that the Senate should not extend the 15 percent dividend and capital gains tax rates for high-income taxpayers until the federal government provides funding to state and local entities to enroll children in SCHIP. [Senate Vote #337, 11/17/05]

1997: McCain Voted Against Providing Health Insurance To Low Income Children. McCain voted against increasing the tobacco tax to provide more money to help insure low and moderate income children. [Senate Vote #76, 5/21/1997]

1995: McCain Voted to Eliminate Vaccines for Children's Program. McCain voted for the 1995 Republican budget that repealed the Vaccines for Children Program. The Vaccines for Children Program provides free and discounted vaccines to children as a means of increasing childhood immunization rates. President Clinton vetoed this GOP budget bill. [Senate CQ Vote #584, 11/17/95; DPC Legislative Bulletin, H.R. 2491, 11/17/95; Congressional Quarterly, 11/18/95, p. 3540]

1995: McCain Voted to Drastically Cut Health Care for Children. McCain voted for the 1995 GOP budget that would have repealed guaranteed coverage of preventative, primary care and hospital services for about 18 million children. The $170 billion Medicaid cut proposed by the GOP would have drastically reduced the availability of preventive, primary, and hospital care for poor children. In addition, the GOP proposal in the 1995 budget to block grant Medicaid would have left states at risk for 100 percent of unanticipated increases in the need for health care due to economic downturns, inflation, population changes, communicable disease outbreaks, or other circumstances. [Senate CQ Vote #584, 11/17/95; DPC Legislative Bulletin, H.R. 2491, 11/17/95; Congressional Quarterly, 11/18/95, p. 3540]