Hatch, leading the fight for $1.5 trillion deficit-boosting tax cuts, says we can't afford CHIP [View all]

[sinkingfeeling]

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/30/1719944/-Hatch-leading-the-fight-for-1-5-trillion-deficit-boosting-tax-cuts-says-we-can-t-afford-CHIP

On the Senate floor Thursday, while arguing that the $1.5 trillion tax cuts bill that his committee has shepherded to the floor is good policy, Sen. Orrin Hatch said the nation can't afford the Children's Health Insurance Program unless other spending cuts are made. The invaluable Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio pressed Hatch on the fact that CHIP funding lapsed 31 days ago, and that states are now having to start informing CHIP clients that their coverage is going away, and asked why it wasn't the top priority of Republicans.

Hatch resorted to his favorite trick: feigned outrage at what he turns into a personal affront. "I invented it," he said of CHIP. "I was the one who wrote it. Kennedy came over and helped to put it through." But then you get the real Hatch, what he really believes

But let me tell you something. We're going to do CHIP, there's no question about it in my mind. It has to be done the right way. But we—the reason CHIP is having trouble is because we don't have money anymore. We just add more and more spending and more and more spending, and you can look at the rest of the bill for the more and more spending.
Get that? We can afford permanent tax cuts for the rich and corporations, but we can't afford to take care of 9 million children. Oh, but it gets much worse.