What a difference an election makes. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the S-CHIP bill by a wide margin of 289 - 139. George Bush repeatedly vetoed similar legislation. President Obama will sign it.
But, the biggest surprise wasn't that the bill passed. It was some of the newfound supporters of S-CHIP from the GOP caucus. Via House Race Hotline's post titled, "Scare The S-CHIP Out of You?":
Just a week into the new Congress, we already have an idea of who's vulnerable in '10 (or at least those who think they're vulnerable), thanks to last p.m.'s S-CHIP vote that passed overwhelmingly.The GOP never had a soul to lose anyway. But, it's funny how quickly those vulnerable Republicans have jumped from the Bush ship.
-- The biggest "aye" surprise came from Thad McCotter (R-MI 11). Yes, that's the same McCotter who heads the conservative GOP Study Cmte and who blogged during the '07 S-CHIP vote that GOPers should battle Dems on the bill, and if they didn't, the party would "not only lose the next election. It will lose its soul." So what changed? In '08, McCotter took just 51% against a Dem who raised just $29K. And he sits in a CD that Pres-elect Obama surely won.
-- But McCotter's not the only GOPer with a change of heart. FL's Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-18), Lincoln (R-21) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-25) and Don Young (R-AK AL) all voted for the package after surviving tough '08 battles. They failed to vote for S-CHIP in '07.
