BECsufferer
09-25 07:53 PM
Hello All;
I would like to share our expereience during finger printing apointment at said center. We arrived an hour and half earlier, so asked the security guard if that was OK. She told us it's fine and we should go to lady officer at next door to take application forms. We took for each one of us, filled them while watching "Baby's day out" movie being shown. Returned the applications and were asked to go to assigned waiting seats. Here we were further escorted by an officer to finger printing machine. Did finger printing and had the notice form stamped, and were out of center in less than 30 minutes. No problems, no delays nothing to worry at all. So go and have fun!:D
P.S : Don't drop off your wife at center ... wait for few minutes. Otherwise she would be begging for phone to call you ( as they won't allow her to keep phone). I helped out one such fine lady earlier today!
I would like to share our expereience during finger printing apointment at said center. We arrived an hour and half earlier, so asked the security guard if that was OK. She told us it's fine and we should go to lady officer at next door to take application forms. We took for each one of us, filled them while watching "Baby's day out" movie being shown. Returned the applications and were asked to go to assigned waiting seats. Here we were further escorted by an officer to finger printing machine. Did finger printing and had the notice form stamped, and were out of center in less than 30 minutes. No problems, no delays nothing to worry at all. So go and have fun!:D
P.S : Don't drop off your wife at center ... wait for few minutes. Otherwise she would be begging for phone to call you ( as they won't allow her to keep phone). I helped out one such fine lady earlier today!
wallpaper University Florida State
newxyz100
07-19 03:36 PM
While filling my biographical information form (I-325a) I forgot to add one of my residential address which was in a different city where I stayed only for 2 months. I was wondering will that be a major issue?
I remember this is the address I gave when I got a job and they did a background check on me. If there are any repercussions how do I rectify the solution, can some one please respond?
:)
I remember this is the address I gave when I got a job and they did a background check on me. If there are any repercussions how do I rectify the solution, can some one please respond?
:)
thesparky007
04-24 01:53 PM
looks nice!
2011 Map Of Florida Cruise Ship
watzgc
08-28 05:42 PM
Friends,
I just received EAD card from employer office and noticed spelling mistake on my Firstname. It is USCIS mistake.
I could not find thread with answer.
Office paralegal called USCIS, look like asked us file again.
do we need to send back the original card recd from UCCIS ?.
Anybody has experience on this one?
Thanks for reading/answer.
Applied : 09-Jul-2008
Recd : 25-Aug-2008
I just received EAD card from employer office and noticed spelling mistake on my Firstname. It is USCIS mistake.
I could not find thread with answer.
Office paralegal called USCIS, look like asked us file again.
do we need to send back the original card recd from UCCIS ?.
Anybody has experience on this one?
Thanks for reading/answer.
Applied : 09-Jul-2008
Recd : 25-Aug-2008
more...
alahiri
02-27 02:53 AM
Washington Post has published a open letter from Mr Bill Gates to the Congress to pass CIR and highlighted the importance of retaining competent workforce in this country by reforming the Green Card program and increasing the number of H1B's. Please submit comments to his open letter in Washington Post showing support for this historical letter:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022301697.html
Wish everyone best of luck.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022301697.html
Wish everyone best of luck.
Blog Feeds
09-14 10:10 AM
Yesterday Congressman Joe Wilson talked to reporters about his claim that the President was lying about immigrants having access to health care subsidies under the President's health care plan. According to the NY Times: �I�m for immigration,� [Wilson] said, adding that he had been an immigration lawyer, although he did not specify exactly what he had done. �But people who come toour country and violated our laws, we should not be providing full services.� It struck me immediately that this would be bizarre if true. Going from representing immigrants to being a member of the virulently anti-immigrant Immigration Reform Caucus...
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2009/09/did-joe-wilson-make-up-story-about-practicing-immigration-law.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2009/09/did-joe-wilson-make-up-story-about-practicing-immigration-law.html)
more...
xu1
07-21 09:48 AM
I heard that there was a deadline to send 45 day letter before end of June this year. And I have seen 45 day letters coming to my friends and me.
Question is: Is there any deadline for them to complete processing all cases???
Another concern. When they are done processing all 350K cases, think of retrogression!
DOL claims on their website all shall be done by Sept 2007.
Question is: Is there any deadline for them to complete processing all cases???
Another concern. When they are done processing all 350K cases, think of retrogression!
DOL claims on their website all shall be done by Sept 2007.
2010 Map of Florida.” State
Blog Feeds
12-05 09:20 PM
Here is the latest on H1B visa numbers, they now passed the 50K mark. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has now received approximately 48,977 H-1B petitions counting toward the congressionally-mandated 65,000 limit. USCIS also confirmed that it has received approximately 17,836 H-1B petitions for employees with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. The annual limit on H-1B petitions in the advanced degree category is 20,000.
Accordingly, USCIS is still accepting H-1B petitions under both the general cap and the advanced degree cap. We also continue to process H1B cases, but time is running out so in order to secure visas for this season employers must act now.
More... (http://www.visalawyerblog.com/2010/11/h1b_visa_cap_update_11302010.html)
Accordingly, USCIS is still accepting H-1B petitions under both the general cap and the advanced degree cap. We also continue to process H1B cases, but time is running out so in order to secure visas for this season employers must act now.
More... (http://www.visalawyerblog.com/2010/11/h1b_visa_cap_update_11302010.html)
more...
sundarpn
03-15 10:01 AM
there have been several threads with same question. Unfortunately no confirmed answers.
Do post what you find, if it is from a qualifed source like an attorney.
Do post what you find, if it is from a qualifed source like an attorney.
hair Florida Shipwrecks. The map is
brick2006
06-29 10:26 AM
Anyone know of any good GC lawyers in Chicago Land area...
I need a desi lawyer who knows that PD is portable...
please pass on the info..if you know of any!!!
rags99@hotmail.com
Raghu
I need a desi lawyer who knows that PD is portable...
please pass on the info..if you know of any!!!
rags99@hotmail.com
Raghu
more...
Ann Ruben
02-12 12:45 PM
I believe it is taking about 2 months (without premium processing).
hot FLORIDA STATE MAP ANIMATED
GotGC??
07-17 03:38 PM
Guys,
I need your inputs on a rather strange situation I'm in.
I have an approved EB3 140 based on a substitue labor, while waiting for my (EB2) labor. If I apply for a 3-year H1 extension based on my approved 140, can I subsequently use my labor (when it is approved) to file another 140 in EB2?
Secondly, if I get a raise - with everything else remaining the same - will it affect any of the above?
Really appreciate your comments!
I need your inputs on a rather strange situation I'm in.
I have an approved EB3 140 based on a substitue labor, while waiting for my (EB2) labor. If I apply for a 3-year H1 extension based on my approved 140, can I subsequently use my labor (when it is approved) to file another 140 in EB2?
Secondly, if I get a raise - with everything else remaining the same - will it affect any of the above?
Really appreciate your comments!
more...
house Florida State University
Blog Feeds
06-17 03:30 AM
On June 17, the House Immigration Subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing on the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the agency which includes the Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Back in 2006, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez issued a memorandum outlining a series of reforms for the Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. There was a lot of controversy about whether new Immigration Judges were being selected because of their knowledge of complex immigration laws and regulations, or for reasons which have nothing to do with their qualifications. The Gonzalez memo made a...
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/carlshusterman/2010/06/house-immigration-subcommittee-hearing-on-eoir.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/carlshusterman/2010/06/house-immigration-subcommittee-hearing-on-eoir.html)
tattoo texas map paqper florida
sajseven
08-04 09:43 AM
Well, it doesn't get much simpler than this. I'm new to Photoshop, and I made it by using the "Creating Cool Footers" tutorial by Ben Watson aka B3Nkobe. What do you think?
Lime Line (10p)
Stamp:
http://www.kirupa.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=38305&stc=1&d=1154698856
Lime Line (10p)
Stamp:
http://www.kirupa.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=38305&stc=1&d=1154698856
more...
pictures hairstyles Map of Florida
Macaca
07-06 07:42 AM
Ratings for Bush, Congress Sink Lower (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_CONGRESS_PLUNGING_POLLS?SITE=WWL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) By ALAN FRAM Associated Press Writer, Jul 4
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Like twin Jacques Cousteaus of the political world, President Bush and Congress are probing the depths of public opinion polling as voters exasperated over Iraq, immigration and other issues give them strikingly low grades.
In a remarkable span, the approval that people voice for the job Bush is doing has sunk to record lows for his presidency in the AP-Ipsos and other polls in recent weeks, dipping within sight of President Nixon's levels during Watergate. Ominously for Republicans hoping to hold the White House and recapture Congress next year, Bush's support has plunged among core GOP groups like evangelicals, and pivotal independent swing voters.
Congress is doing about the same. Like Bush, lawmakers are winning approval by roughly three in 10. Such levels are significantly low for a president, and poor but less unusual for Congress.
"The big thing would be the war," said independent Richard MacDonald, 56, a retired printer from Redding, Calif. "I don't think he knew what he got into when he got into it." As for Congress, MacDonald said, "It's just the same old same old with me. A lot of promises they don't keep."
Bush was risking more unpopularity by commuting I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison term in the CIA leak case, and his refusal to rule out a full pardon. Polls in March after the former White House aide's conviction showed two in three opposed to a pardon.
The public's dissatisfaction may be more serious for Republicans because even though Bush cannot run again, he is the face of the GOP. He will remain that until his party picks its 2008 presidential nominee - and through the campaign if Democrats can keep him front and center.
"Everything about this race will be about George Bush and the mess he left," Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic leadership, said about 2008. "He'll be on the ballot."
Congress' numbers could signal danger for majority Democrats, since they echo the low ratings just before the GOP 1994 takeover of the House and Senate, and the Democratic capture of both chambers last November.
But unlike the president, Congress usually has low approval ratings no matter which party is in control, and poor poll numbers have not always meant the majority party suffered on Election Day. Voters usually show more disdain for Congress as an institution than for their own representative - whom they pick.
A majority in a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. survey in late June said Democratic control of Congress was good for the country. Yet only 42 percent approved of what Democratic leaders have done this year - when Democrats failed to force Bush to change policy on Iraq.
Republican strategists hope the dim mood will help the GOP in congressional elections.
"The voters voted for change and they expected change, and they see an institution still incapable of getting anything done," said GOP pollster Linda DiVall.
The abysmal numbers are already affecting how Bush and Congress are governing and candidates' positioning for 2008.
Last Thursday's Senate collapse of Bush's immigration bill showed anew how lawmakers feel free to ignore his agenda. Republican senators like Richard Lugar of Indiana and George Voinovich of Ohio have joined increasingly bipartisan calls for an Iraq troop withdrawal.
This year's GOP presidential debates have seen former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and others criticize Bush or his administration for mishandling the war and other issues. Some Republican congressional candidates have not hesitated to distance themselves from Bush.
"President Bush is my friend, and I don't always agree with my friends," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., facing a tough re-election fight next year. "And on the issues of Iraq and immigration, I simply disagree with his approach."
Bush's doleful numbers speak for themselves.
In an early June AP-Ipsos poll, 32 percent approved of his work, tying his low in that survey. Other June polls in which he set or tied his personal worst included 27 percent by CBS News, 31 percent by Fox News-Opinion Dynamics, 32 percent by CNN-Opinion Research Corp. and 26 percent by Newsweek.
The Gallup poll's lowest presidential approval rating was President Truman's 23 percent in 1951 and 1952 during the Korean war, compared with Nixon's 24 percent days before he resigned in August 1974. Bush notched the best ever, 90 percent days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The AP's June survey showed that compared with an AP exit poll of voters in November 2004, Bush's approval was down among swing voters. His support dropped from about half of independents to a fifth; from half to a third of Catholics; and from nearly half to a fifth of moderates.
Among usually loyal GOP voters, his approval was down from about eight in 10 to roughly half of both conservatives and white evangelicals.
Congress had a 35 percent approval rating in a May AP-Ipsos survey. Polls in June found 27 percent approval by CBS News, 25 percent by Newsweek and 24 percent by Gallup-USA Today.
Congress' all-time Gallup low was 18 percent during a 1992 scandal over House post office transactions; its high was 84 percent just after Sept. 11.
In the AP poll, lawmakers won approval from only about three in 10 midwesterners, independents and married people with children - pivotal groups both parties court aggressively.
---
AP Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Like twin Jacques Cousteaus of the political world, President Bush and Congress are probing the depths of public opinion polling as voters exasperated over Iraq, immigration and other issues give them strikingly low grades.
In a remarkable span, the approval that people voice for the job Bush is doing has sunk to record lows for his presidency in the AP-Ipsos and other polls in recent weeks, dipping within sight of President Nixon's levels during Watergate. Ominously for Republicans hoping to hold the White House and recapture Congress next year, Bush's support has plunged among core GOP groups like evangelicals, and pivotal independent swing voters.
Congress is doing about the same. Like Bush, lawmakers are winning approval by roughly three in 10. Such levels are significantly low for a president, and poor but less unusual for Congress.
"The big thing would be the war," said independent Richard MacDonald, 56, a retired printer from Redding, Calif. "I don't think he knew what he got into when he got into it." As for Congress, MacDonald said, "It's just the same old same old with me. A lot of promises they don't keep."
Bush was risking more unpopularity by commuting I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison term in the CIA leak case, and his refusal to rule out a full pardon. Polls in March after the former White House aide's conviction showed two in three opposed to a pardon.
The public's dissatisfaction may be more serious for Republicans because even though Bush cannot run again, he is the face of the GOP. He will remain that until his party picks its 2008 presidential nominee - and through the campaign if Democrats can keep him front and center.
"Everything about this race will be about George Bush and the mess he left," Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic leadership, said about 2008. "He'll be on the ballot."
Congress' numbers could signal danger for majority Democrats, since they echo the low ratings just before the GOP 1994 takeover of the House and Senate, and the Democratic capture of both chambers last November.
But unlike the president, Congress usually has low approval ratings no matter which party is in control, and poor poll numbers have not always meant the majority party suffered on Election Day. Voters usually show more disdain for Congress as an institution than for their own representative - whom they pick.
A majority in a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. survey in late June said Democratic control of Congress was good for the country. Yet only 42 percent approved of what Democratic leaders have done this year - when Democrats failed to force Bush to change policy on Iraq.
Republican strategists hope the dim mood will help the GOP in congressional elections.
"The voters voted for change and they expected change, and they see an institution still incapable of getting anything done," said GOP pollster Linda DiVall.
The abysmal numbers are already affecting how Bush and Congress are governing and candidates' positioning for 2008.
Last Thursday's Senate collapse of Bush's immigration bill showed anew how lawmakers feel free to ignore his agenda. Republican senators like Richard Lugar of Indiana and George Voinovich of Ohio have joined increasingly bipartisan calls for an Iraq troop withdrawal.
This year's GOP presidential debates have seen former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and others criticize Bush or his administration for mishandling the war and other issues. Some Republican congressional candidates have not hesitated to distance themselves from Bush.
"President Bush is my friend, and I don't always agree with my friends," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., facing a tough re-election fight next year. "And on the issues of Iraq and immigration, I simply disagree with his approach."
Bush's doleful numbers speak for themselves.
In an early June AP-Ipsos poll, 32 percent approved of his work, tying his low in that survey. Other June polls in which he set or tied his personal worst included 27 percent by CBS News, 31 percent by Fox News-Opinion Dynamics, 32 percent by CNN-Opinion Research Corp. and 26 percent by Newsweek.
The Gallup poll's lowest presidential approval rating was President Truman's 23 percent in 1951 and 1952 during the Korean war, compared with Nixon's 24 percent days before he resigned in August 1974. Bush notched the best ever, 90 percent days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The AP's June survey showed that compared with an AP exit poll of voters in November 2004, Bush's approval was down among swing voters. His support dropped from about half of independents to a fifth; from half to a third of Catholics; and from nearly half to a fifth of moderates.
Among usually loyal GOP voters, his approval was down from about eight in 10 to roughly half of both conservatives and white evangelicals.
Congress had a 35 percent approval rating in a May AP-Ipsos survey. Polls in June found 27 percent approval by CBS News, 25 percent by Newsweek and 24 percent by Gallup-USA Today.
Congress' all-time Gallup low was 18 percent during a 1992 scandal over House post office transactions; its high was 84 percent just after Sept. 11.
In the AP poll, lawmakers won approval from only about three in 10 midwesterners, independents and married people with children - pivotal groups both parties court aggressively.
---
AP Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.
dresses daytona map prarie florida
RadioactveChimp
05-01 10:04 PM
haha nice man. a few things though
1) i don't like how the sort of "radiation" coming from his face stops abruptly
2) it looks like you were going to put "1.00" but forgot the ".", it has a weird spacing
-Dean
1) i don't like how the sort of "radiation" coming from his face stops abruptly
2) it looks like you were going to put "1.00" but forgot the ".", it has a weird spacing
-Dean
more...
makeup Map of the State of Florida
reachinus
07-14 01:13 PM
I think if you can prove the emergency to the consulate then you can book an emergency appt. I assume all H1's are eligible for this appt. SEnd a mail to consulate and chekc it out.
girlfriend Florida State vs.
eastindia
11-16 02:12 PM
Interesting
In FY 2007 there were 18 States with over 1,000 certifi
ed PERM positions, and in FY 2008 there were only
12. Following this trend, there were only eight States
in FY 2009 with over 1,000 certifi ed PERM positions,
and in FY 2009 the number of positions approved in
each of these eight States declined signifi cantly. The
most signifi cant decreases occurred in California, Texas,
and Illinois, where the number of positions approved
declined over 45 percent from FY 2008. The most
demanded occupational positions in FY 2009 were
found in the Information Technology industry, with the
Advanced Manufacturing and Finance industries also
drawing a large number of position requests.
STATES
In FY 2007 there were 18 States with over 1,000 certifi
ed PERM positions, and in FY 2008 there were only
12. Following this trend, there were only eight States
in FY 2009 with over 1,000 certifi ed PERM positions,
and in FY 2009 the number of positions approved in
each of these eight States declined signifi cantly. The
most signifi cant decreases occurred in California, Texas,
and Illinois, where the number of positions approved
declined over 45 percent from FY 2008. The most
demanded occupational positions in FY 2009 were
found in the Information Technology industry, with the
Advanced Manufacturing and Finance industries also
drawing a large number of position requests.
STATES
hairstyles map illinois florida state
nonimmi
01-11 03:50 PM
Here you see some of the early adopters of AC21 rule asking similar questions during 2002-2003.
http://www.immigrationportal.com/archive/index.php/f-121.html
http://www.immigrationportal.com/archive/index.php/f-121.html
americandesi
10-19 06:01 PM
I read in one of the threads (couldn't locate it now) where USCIS asked for the financials from the new employer in an AC21 case. So just be prepared.
Macaca
09-27 11:40 AM
Following Bush Over a Cliff (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602067.html) By David S. Broder (davidbroder@washpost.com) | Washington Post, September 27, 2007
The spectacle Tuesday of 151 House Republicans voting in lock step with the White House against expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was one of the more remarkable sights of the year. Rarely do you see so many politicians putting their careers in jeopardy.
The bill they opposed, at the urging of President Bush, commands healthy majorities in both the House and Senate but is headed for a veto because Bush objects to expanding this form of safety net for the children of the working poor. He has staked out that ground on his own, ignoring or rejecting the pleas of conservative senators such as Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch, who helped shape the compromise that the House approved and that the Senate endorsed.
SCHIP has been one of the most successful health-care measures created in the past decade. It was started in 1997 with support from both parties, in order to insure children in families with incomes too high to receive Medicaid but who could not afford private insurance.
The $40 billion spent on SCHIP in the past 10 years financed insurance for roughly 6.6 million youngsters a year. The money was distributed through the states, which were given considerable flexibility in designing their programs. The insurance came from private companies, at rates negotiated by the states.
Governors of both parties -- 43 of them, again including conservatives such as Sonny Perdue of Georgia -- have praised the program. And they endorsed the congressional decision to expand the coverage to an additional 4 million youngsters, at the cost of an additional $35 billion over the next five years. The bill would be financed by a 61-cents-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes. If ever there was a crowd-pleaser of a bill, this is it. Hundreds of organizations -- grass-roots groups ranging from AARP to United Way of America and the national YMCA -- have called on Bush to sign the bill. America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest insurance lobbying group, endorsed the bill on Monday.
But Bush insists that SCHIP is "an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American" -- an eventuality he is determined to prevent.
Bush's adamant stand may be peculiar to him, but the willingness of Republican legislators to line up with him is more significant. Bush does not have to face the voters again, but these men and women will be on the ballot in just over a year -- and their Democratic opponents will undoubtedly remind them of their votes.
Two of their smartest colleagues -- Heather Wilson of New Mexico and Ray LaHood of Illinois -- tried to steer House Republicans away from this political self-immolation, but they had minimal success. The combined influence of White House and congressional leadership -- and what I would have to call herd instinct -- prevailed.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) argued that "rather than taking the opportunity to cover the children that cannot obtain coverage through Medicaid or the private marketplace, this bill uses these children as pawns in their cynical attempt to make millions of Americans completely reliant upon the government for their health-care needs."
In his new book, former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan wrote that his fellow Republicans deserved to lose their congressional majority in 2006 because they let spending run out of control and turned a blind eye toward misbehavior by their own members. Now, those Republicans have given voters a fresh reason to question their priorities -- or their common sense.
Saying no to immigration reform and measures to shorten the war in Iraq may be politically defensible, because there are substantial constituencies who question the wisdom of those bills -- and who favor alternative policies. But the Bush administration's arguments against SCHIP -- the cost of the program and the financing -- sound hollow at a time when billions more are being spent in Iraq with no end in sight. Bush's alternative -- a change in the tax treatment of employer-financed health insurance -- has some real appeal, but it is an idea he let languish for months after offering it last winter. And, in the judgment of his fellow Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, Bush's plan is too complex and controversial to be tied to the renewal of SCHIP.
This promised veto is a real poison pill for the GOP.
The spectacle Tuesday of 151 House Republicans voting in lock step with the White House against expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was one of the more remarkable sights of the year. Rarely do you see so many politicians putting their careers in jeopardy.
The bill they opposed, at the urging of President Bush, commands healthy majorities in both the House and Senate but is headed for a veto because Bush objects to expanding this form of safety net for the children of the working poor. He has staked out that ground on his own, ignoring or rejecting the pleas of conservative senators such as Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch, who helped shape the compromise that the House approved and that the Senate endorsed.
SCHIP has been one of the most successful health-care measures created in the past decade. It was started in 1997 with support from both parties, in order to insure children in families with incomes too high to receive Medicaid but who could not afford private insurance.
The $40 billion spent on SCHIP in the past 10 years financed insurance for roughly 6.6 million youngsters a year. The money was distributed through the states, which were given considerable flexibility in designing their programs. The insurance came from private companies, at rates negotiated by the states.
Governors of both parties -- 43 of them, again including conservatives such as Sonny Perdue of Georgia -- have praised the program. And they endorsed the congressional decision to expand the coverage to an additional 4 million youngsters, at the cost of an additional $35 billion over the next five years. The bill would be financed by a 61-cents-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes. If ever there was a crowd-pleaser of a bill, this is it. Hundreds of organizations -- grass-roots groups ranging from AARP to United Way of America and the national YMCA -- have called on Bush to sign the bill. America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest insurance lobbying group, endorsed the bill on Monday.
But Bush insists that SCHIP is "an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American" -- an eventuality he is determined to prevent.
Bush's adamant stand may be peculiar to him, but the willingness of Republican legislators to line up with him is more significant. Bush does not have to face the voters again, but these men and women will be on the ballot in just over a year -- and their Democratic opponents will undoubtedly remind them of their votes.
Two of their smartest colleagues -- Heather Wilson of New Mexico and Ray LaHood of Illinois -- tried to steer House Republicans away from this political self-immolation, but they had minimal success. The combined influence of White House and congressional leadership -- and what I would have to call herd instinct -- prevailed.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) argued that "rather than taking the opportunity to cover the children that cannot obtain coverage through Medicaid or the private marketplace, this bill uses these children as pawns in their cynical attempt to make millions of Americans completely reliant upon the government for their health-care needs."
In his new book, former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan wrote that his fellow Republicans deserved to lose their congressional majority in 2006 because they let spending run out of control and turned a blind eye toward misbehavior by their own members. Now, those Republicans have given voters a fresh reason to question their priorities -- or their common sense.
Saying no to immigration reform and measures to shorten the war in Iraq may be politically defensible, because there are substantial constituencies who question the wisdom of those bills -- and who favor alternative policies. But the Bush administration's arguments against SCHIP -- the cost of the program and the financing -- sound hollow at a time when billions more are being spent in Iraq with no end in sight. Bush's alternative -- a change in the tax treatment of employer-financed health insurance -- has some real appeal, but it is an idea he let languish for months after offering it last winter. And, in the judgment of his fellow Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, Bush's plan is too complex and controversial to be tied to the renewal of SCHIP.
This promised veto is a real poison pill for the GOP.
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