OUR PRINCIPLE: If we are going to fix a broken Washington and make it work for the American people, then we need to move beyond the political battles of the past and work together to deliver common sense solutions that address the people’s most pressing needs.

The challenges Americans are facing right now are too important for Congress to be rehashing last year’s battles.  Democrats tried to expand the SCHIP program in 2007, and failed. Not once, but twice. It is unfortunate, but telling, that Democrats in Washington would rather revisit last year’s political battles than address more pressing issues – such as the looming expiration of critical intelligence collection reforms that keep Americans safe.

• FISA. The bipartisan Protect America Act, a critical anti-terror law that closes loopholes in our intelligence laws, will expire on February 1st. That leaves only two full legislative days for Democrats in the House to pass legislation to extend this law. If this extension is not passed in time, intelligence agencies will be blinded to our enemies’ plans and required to lawyer up before eavesdropping on our enemies.

An SCHIP veto override vote represents a needless political maneuver on the part of the Democrat majority. Last month, House Republicans won a victory for the children of the working poor when Congress passed and the President signed into law a long-term extension that funds the SCHIP program through the spring of 2009. Democrats would never have agreed to that long an extension if they weren’t certain that this veto override vote would fail. What’s more, delaying the vote from mid-December to just days before the State of the Union Address is further demonstration of Democrats’ cynical gamesmanship. This from a majority that continues to pledge to change the tone in Washington.

• The House passed the SCHIP Extension Act (S. 2499) on Dec. 19 by a vote of 411-3. That bill, which extends SCHIP funding through March 31, 2009, was signed into law by the President on Dec. 29. [NOTE: Next week’s override vote is being taken on HR 3963, which passed the House on Oct. 25 and was vetoed by on Dec. 12.]

Republicans are steadfastly committed to covering poor kids first. A months-long effort by Democrats in Washington to expand SCHIP was met with fierce resistance after Republicans exposed the majority’s plans to cover adults, illegal immigrants, wealthier families, and kids who already have private insurance on the government dole. SCHIP’s purpose is to cover low-income children, not to serve as a delivery device for bureaucratized health care.

• There are still half a million children eligible for the SCHIP program, but not enrolled. The nonpartisan Urban Institute estimates that more than 530,000 children already in families currently eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP (earning 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less) are not enrolled. In another study, the Urban Institute said “more than six in 10 uninsured children qualify for Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) but are not enrolled.”

• The majority of the American people agree with Republicans on SCHIP. “ According to the findings of a USA Today/Gallup Poll taken at the height of the SCHIP debate, “a majority of Americans agree … that government aid should not go to middle-income families or those with private insurance.” (USA Today, 10/15/07)