Corker defends S-CHIP vote

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Click to enlarge]

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker told an open meeting audience in Shelbyville on Tuesday that he voted for the recent S-CHIP health care bill, not because it was perfect, but because it helped provide health care to children living in poverty or near-poverty.

"I'm going to err on the side of them having health care," said Corker, a Republican who was formerly the mayor of Chattanooga.

Corker also discussed his own bill, the Every American Insured Act, which would use changes in the tax code to guarantee private citizens access to private major medical insurance. He said the bill, of which he is a co-sponsor, would help avoid a nationalized or government-run health system while at the same time providing benefits to the uninsured. He said that currently, the treatment given to uninsured Americans ends up being paid for by insured Americans, since hospitals end up passing the cost of their non-paying customers on to their paying customers. Guaranteeing access to health insurance to everyone would help eliminate that aspect of the health care crisis.

"This bill would have a deflationary effect on health care," he said.

He said the bill has been criticized by both liberal and conservative columnists.

"So I think we've got it just about right," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

S-CHIP stands for State Children's Health Insurance Program. The basic S-CHIP program has been around for a decade but was about to expire and needed to be re-authorized. Over the years, President Bush had issued eight waivers allowing specific states and the District of Columbia to provide health care to people living at up to 300 percent of the poverty level for that state. When it came time to renew the bill, however, the Bush administration proposed only $5 billion in additional funding, even though Corker said it would take $14-20 billion more to fund the program as it now exists, because of the waivers granted by the administration. Corker said the bill proposed by the Senate and vetoed by President Bush, which would use a cigarette tax increase to fund the program, would have reformed the program and eliminated individual waivers granted to states.

Corker denied some of the arguments made against the bill, saying it would not, for example, provide insurance for a family of four making $83,000 a year.

"It does not go to $83,000. That is not true," said Corker. He said that because the bill defines the benefits in terms of a percentage of the poverty level, it does account for differences in the cost of living from one region to another -- a dollar figure which would be a comfortable living in one state might be poverty in another.

"It also does not insure illegal immigrants," he said, responding to another accusation which was briefly made against the bill. "That's not true. It's absolutely not true."

Corker said the bill was not perfect but he liked the idea that it included a funding mechanism, in the form of the cigarette tax.

In other issues discussed at Tuesday's open meeting:

Iraq: Corker said that Gen. David Petraeus is "getting it right on the ground" in Iraq and that supporting Petraeus's plans is the best way to move towards a situation in which troops might be brought home under good circumstances.

"He understands that we're not there as occupiers, we're there as enablers," said Corker.

Corker said that the central Iraqi government has not done all it should to bring about peace and criticized Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki.

"It sometimes seems like he's acting like a Shia first and an Iraqi second," said Corker, referring to the often-combative Shia and Sunni factions of Islam.

Energy: Corker said Americans should look at the need for energy policy not as a case of winners and losers, but as a patchwork quilt, in which many different parts must be brought together. Corker said domestic oil production must be increased, conservation must be stressed, and new technologies must be emphasized. Corker said he voted for an energy bill which passed by one vote but which the GOP leadership tried to kill.

"I felt like it took our country in the right direction," he said. He noted the part that Tennessee has to play in the energy situation, citing various projects such as a cellulose-to-ethanol plant in East Tennessee which would produce the benefits of ethanol but without taking corn out of the food chain. Tennessee Eastman, meanwhile, has a project to make natural gas from coal.

Immigration: Corker said he does not agree with President Bush's proposals for immigration reform. He also, in response to a citizen question, said he can't find any evidence of a proposed Mexico-to-Canada superhighway which was talked about by radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy.

Law of the Sea: Corker said the first two hearings on the proposed Law of the Sea Treaty raised more questions about it than they answered, and that more needs to be learned before the treaty is voted on.

Corker also talked briefly about his experiences over the past nine months as the only freshman GOP senator elected in 2006.

"The class [of senators] above me adopted me so that I'd have someone to eat dinner with," he said.

County Mayor Eugene Ray, welcoming Corker to the meeting, presented him with a Bedford County Bicentennial medallion.