More Healthy Kids or More Failed Occupation

On CNN a few minutes ago, Democratic political consultant Paul Begala noted that President Bush is going to have difficult time pushing for $50 billion more for occupying Iraq, while pledging to veto House and Senate bills for children's health insurance (the SCHIP program), which total $50 billion and $35 billion respectively.

Expect more and more people to make that connection next month as Congress deals with both issues.

But keep this mind.

The SCHIP bills provide funding for five years of covering kids.

Let's make the comparison clear.

Bush is fighting against investing $7 to $10 billion a year (money that is paid for with revenue offsets) into a children's health program that is a proven success.

At the same time, he is calling for another $50 billion this year for Iraq, adding to our debt, on top of the $450 billion we have already sunk in a proven failure.

The total cost of the war could literally have provided health insurance for every child in America, with plenty left over.

The fundamental problem with the occupation is not the financial cost, it's the flawed political objectives and the unnecessary deaths.

But the cost is simply staggering, while so many needs -- healthy kids being just one -- go unmet.

UPDATE: Dean Baker puts it this way: "the cost of the war is twenty times the additional funding proposed in a Senate bill to extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program."

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