Massive Expansion of SCHIP
by: John Frydenlund

Congress is poised to pass a massive expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Originally, SCHIP was designed to help low-income families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid gain access to health insurance for their children. However, under the bill currently being considered (H.R. 2), SCHIP's income eligibility level would rise from the current 200 percent to at least 300 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), or about $63,000 for a family of four. In addition, some states don't count certain types of income or have an approved waiver in order to boost eligibility for the program.

Economic Crisis, Congressional Reward
by: Sean Kennedy

With the economy in recession, a national debt of $10.6 trillion, and a record estimated deficit of $1.2 trillion for the fiscal year, it seems a strange time for Congress to be receiving a raise, yet that is exactly what is scheduled to happen as the new session begins.

A Word of Caution for President Obama
by: Elizabeth Wright

President Obama and Congress are in the process of putting together a ???stimulus??? package in order to spur the economy and create or save 3 million jobs. The House of Representative's proposal contained $275 billion in tax cuts and $526 billion in ???carefully targeted priority investments??? for a total cost of $820 billion. It would be better to call it a de-stimulus package because each of the 3 to 4 million jobs that the President and his allies claim to be saving and creating will cost taxpayers about $275,000.