Letter: Children’s health gets no love from Bush

Monday, Sept. 24, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Congressional analysts have said the war in Iraq costs roughly $2 billion per week, and academic analysts estimate the total cost of the war could be $1 trillion.

Repeatedly, stories have come out about waste, theft and corruption in Iraq. Some congressional leaders have even described what is going on there as the "culture of corruption."

Therefore, I was perplexed and disheartened to learn that President Bush has decided to take a firm stand against an expansion of children's health insurance coverage.

According to an Associated Press story dated Sept. 22, it is a bipartisan group of lawmakers that announced a plan to increase, over five years, $35 billion to the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Bush says the additional funds would move children from private insurance to government coverage, but the bill's supporters reject this claim.

Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said on Sept. 22, "The administration has tried to turn this into a partisan issue and has threatened to veto. The health of our children is far too important for politics as usual."

I am baffled why the president would take such a strong stand on a health matter for children that involves, relatively, so few dollars.

After all, repeatedly, it has been reliably reported that billions of dollars are unaccounted for in the Iraq war.

In fact, it was reported by CBS on Sept. 20, "$88 billion in spending in Iraq and Afghanistan is now under audit by the Department of Defense for fraud."

President Bush has said the bill for children's health insurance is too costly. So, naturally, I am curious about the kind of stand he will take on this matter of $88 billion being investigated for fraud.

Robert L. Candiotti, Las Vegas