REP ZACH WAMP: SCHIP IS AN ATTEMPT TO NATIONALIZE CARE

Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp has an op-ed in the Tennessean in which he points out the reason that the State Children's Health Insurance Program was first adopted in 1997. The purpose of the bill was to bring health-care benefits to children of the working poor. The program was provided funding for ten years and needs to be renewed now. As Congressman Wamp says, he supported SCHIP in 1997 and supports renewing it now. But not in the present form, which is an attempt by the Democrats to begin the push toward nationalization of health care. One thing that Congressman Wamp points out that I have not heard anywhere else is that since the Democrats propose a 61-cent-per-pack increase in federal tobacco taxes, people need to understand what a bad policy it is to use a declining revenue stream to pay for a growing program.