S-CHIP, asinine waivers, Dems and right-to-life

Last Wednesday, the House passed a re-authorization of of S-CHIP. I've blogged on this often-- in particular, the philosophical and practical difficulties in the way the program is implemented.

Two interesting aspects-- from Speaker Pelosi's website...

1.) They got rid of the five year waiver on services to legal immigrant children of illegal immigrant parents. I'm not in favor of a waiver, but if you're going to have a five-year waiver, why bother at all? Congrats to the Dems on injecting more consistency into the bill.

2.) They extended benefits to pregnant women-- in a program for children, implicitly assuming that life begins in the womb. Congrats to the Dems, incidentally, on that one!