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Nov 7, 2007

Florida Today - Our view: The taxpayers' dime: Weldon and Feeney get fat benefits on public tab, but fight expanded kid care

Health care for children in the richest nation in the history of the world?

You'd think it would be a given.

But not when people like Space Coast Republican Reps. Dave Weldon and Tom Feeney have a say in the matter.

They've consistently stood against expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, calling it everything from a "free government-run program" to "socialized medicine."

And done it even though they know full well that parents would have to pay and private physicians provide the care.

President Bush has already vetoed one SCHIP bill and is threatening to reject another compromise passed last week.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says supporters -- including many leading GOP conservatives -- will keep fighting with repeated polls showing most Americans support the expanded coverage.

So why would Weldon and Feeney help block expanding care to 3.3 million kids and expectant moms, or present puny "replacement" bills that won't meet the need?

Maybe it's because they haven't taken a good hard look in the mirror.

If they did, they'd see themselves for what they are:

Politicians who find one excuse after another to nix sufficient expansion of SCHIP, while grabbing huge benefits for themselves right out of the taxpayers' pockets.

Maybe they just can't grasp the struggles of working families that can't afford to get proper medical care for their sick children.

If so, no wonder.

· Weldon and Feeney made $165,200 this year and get regular, substantial raises.

That's approaching four times Brevard's median household income of $47,000.

Meanwhile, American workers pay, adjusted for inflation, has remained nearly flat since 2000.

· Weldon, Feeney and their fellow members get health care coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, with taxpayers paying more than 70 percent of their costs for access to the nation's best care.

By comparison, the annual premium for a typical employer health plan for a family of four is $11,500 -- almost 25 percent of the $48,000 median household income in the U.S.

· Congress gave itself a pension system so lavish that some former lawmakers collect twice what they got when serving. They can also get a full guaranteed pension at age 50, with just 20 years of service.

In fact, the Taxpayers Union says many members will collect more than $1 million after leaving Congress, some up to $2 million.

Only 40 percent of Americans even get a pension.

· Members of Congress collect Social Security, too, with taxpayers paying an average of 80 percent of their typical lifetime benefit.

· Their tax-deferred savings plan is matched by the taxpayer, almost dollar for dollar.

No wonder Weldon, Feeney and other members of Congress try so hard to hang onto their jobs.

The wonder is how can they keep stuffing their pockets with public money, and not be leading the movement to expand health insurance to millions more American kids, some of whom may die without it.