Bush to Seek Immigrant Benefit Protection

Washington Post ^ | January 4, 2004 | Mike Allen

[Kay Soze]

Ping/bump to push The GOP back to the right.

[rmlew]

Bush acts like a liberal.
Conservative calls Bush on it.
Another freeper calls Conservative a "DU Troll".
Real mature.
You are the miror image of Democrats who held that Clinton comitted no crime.

[WOSG]

"It wouldn't be so bad if we just annexed them would it?"

Hell, yeah, great idea, if they are going to come here anyway... saves them the walking, and saves us the problem of where to fit them in to our crowded cities.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Wrongful acts like what? LIBERATING 50, MILLION OPPRESSED ARABS?

Just in case you missed it fool. Name me another President that has done so much? Show me your world history knowledge, please?

[jwh_Denver]

Vote for Howard Dean, chump.

You vote for him. I didn't say I was. You didn't eat your banana yet?

[BOBTHENAILER]

yes

[tubavil]

I see you are exempt from the 'personal attacks' rule, so I shall disengage.

[GeronL]

They would, theoretically become the 52nd-61st states to the union... (Puerto Rico has to make up its mind first, obviously. Those slow pokes.)

[FITZ]

This President has been in office for three years and our borders are tighter now than they have been in many many years.

I don't think there is any evidence the immigration --- illegal included, is down in the least. I don't think the illegals entry points are more difficult to cross. At least in this area, it was Silvestre Reyes who enforced the border with Operation Hold-the-Line after his Operation Blockade (why he is in Congress BTW) --- nothing has been tightened since.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

"In politics, sometimes it's wise to mislead the press with a few purposely leaked supposed details that will end up making the Liberal Rags like the NYT's look the fools they are"

You mean, like Ridge's recent statement? (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1039083/posts) That statement wasn't meant to mislead the press, it was meant as a trial balloon. If you don't pop trial balloons in time, it's too late.

[BOBTHENAILER]

You are the miror image of Democrats who held that Clinton comitted no crime.

You have no friggin' clue, but your quote above, proves it.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Just in case you missed it Einstein. Name me another President that has done so much? Show me your world history knowledge, please?

Feel better now, tender one?

Didn't mean to hurt you.

[WOSG]

"The smart thing to do is what the poster of the article suggests, and that's to send your letters and Faxes to the White House with your suggestions, instead of being a useful idiot for the left, and condemning the President for something that has yet to happen. ... you can be a tool for the left and scream from the roof tops that Bush will grant amnesty, or you can wait for his actual proposal like the rest of us who refuse to be played like a Fiddle"

Correct!

Send a short polite note to president@whitehouse.gov --- ALL OF YOU WHO WANT TO PROTECT OUR BORDERS --- saying you oppose amnesty, you oppose this proposal, you oppose 'anchor babies' getting citizenship when their Mom's came over here illegally (only children of legal residents should be made citizens); you oppose giving welfare to immigrants; you support Cong Lamar Smith's CLEAR act that allows local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws; you opposed paying medicare money for the border hospitals rather than letting hospitals off the hook so they dont have to cater to illegals showing up at their doors; you support employer sanctions and fines and thinke every employee can and should be verified through a national database. Any 'guest worker' visa should be strictly enforced. The borders should be made more secure and the incentives for illegal immigration should be stopped.

It all can be done we just lack the will to do it.

Lastly tell Bush his pandering will backfire. One focus group wholly and totally angry at the Bush admin for their foolish pandering will send the message to Karl Rove.

[MJY1288]

OK, That's fair... So what do you do with your assumption that it's a trial baloon?

As I said, Send your letters and faxes to the White House denouncing any kind of amnesty (LIKE I HAVE) instead of taking what Mike Allen from the Wash. Post as Gospel and condemning this President for a Proposal neither you or I or anyone has seen, because there isn't one yet.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" You mean, like Ridge's recent statement?"

You mean this one ?

" I'm not saying make them citizens,'' Ridge said. ``They violated our laws to get here. You don't reward that kind of conduct.''

[FITZ]

What makes this kind of news doubly hard --- there was just this on Jan 2 ---- this past Friday:

Vets' drug bills may soar

Dale Eisman
The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is considering dramatic increases in the fees military retirees pay for prescription drugs, a step that would roll back a benefit extended just 30 months ago and could alienate an important Republican constituency at the dawn of the 2004 campaign season.

The move would affect thousands of El Paso area veterans.

Pentagon budget documents indicate retirees may be asked to pay $10 -- up from the current $3 -- for each 90-day generic prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military's health insurance program. Tricare's current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each brand-name drug would jump to $20.

The proposal would also impose charges for drugs the retirees now receive free at military hospitals and clinics. There would be a $10 fee for each generic prescription and a $20 charge for brand-name drugs dispensed at those facilities.

"You're tampering with a benefit that was earned by people putting their lives on the line," fumed James F. Lokovic, a retired Air Force chief master sergeant and deputy director of the Air Force Sergeants Association.

Lokovic's 136,000-member association has already sent Bush a letter warning of "significant backlash from millions of retired military voters" if the plan is included in the 2005 defense budget the administration will unveil in a few weeks.

The Texas Veterans Land Board says that 56,000 veterans live in El Paso, and that 18,000 of them are 65 or older.

An additional 441 veterans live in neighboring Hudspeth and Culberson counties. And many area veterans are not included in the count because they live in Juárez, say local veteran leaders.

A Pentagon spokesman declined Wednesday to comment on the drug plan, calling it "pre-decisional." But word of the proposal was being spread at the speed of light by veterans service organizations, who were e-mailing their thousands of members to solicit calls and letters of protest to the White House and members of Congress.

"It's something that we're going to look at very closely when we return," said Tom Gordy, chief of staff for Rep. Ed. Schrock, R-Va. The House is to reconvene on Jan. 20.

"Somebody just isn't paying attention," the Military Officers Association of America said in a "special alert" sent to its 390,000 members. "The war on terrorism is reminding the nation of servicemembers' sacrifices every night on the evening news ... and yet the administration seems to continue going out of its way to penalize the military community."

The Military Officers Association of America alert and an Internet site run by the Sergeants Association recall attempts by the administration to impose a $1,200 deductible for care provided to most military retirees at Veterans Affairs hospitals and the Pentagon's long-running opposition to bills providing for "concurrent receipt" of military pension and VA disability payments.

Bush and lawmakers agreed earlier this year on a concurrent receipt plan, a move widely seen as an attempt to shore up support for Republicans among military-minded voters. Military veterans and retirees are generally seen as providing Bush his 2000 margin of victory in several key states, including Florida.

The budget documents circulating Wednesday gave no hint of the current status of the plan or the thinking behind it. Military retirees -- those who served 20 years or more -- had no prescription drug coverage until April 2001.

But the documents indicate that the proposed charges would considerably ease the burden of prescription drug costs on the defense budget. The new co-pays would generate more than $728 million in 2005, the Pentagon estimated, and nearly $4.2 billion by the end of 2009.

The proposed fees also would bring the military's co-pays into line with those imposed by the VA, the documents assert.

But spokesmen for veterans groups noted that the VA fills prescriptions for service-related illnesses and injuries at no charge.

Its $7 co-pay applies only for medicines given to outpatients for ailments unrelated to their service. And even those prescriptions are provided free when the veteran receiving them has an annual income of less than $9,690 if single and $12,692 if married.

The El Paso Times contributed to this story.

[BOBTHENAILER]

You didn't eat your banana yet?

Why should I? Only DU trolls refer to Bush as a chimp,. worthy of banana eating.

What's your screen name on DU? I play there often with fools like you.

[superloser]

"I'm not saying make them citizens," Ridge said. "They violated our laws to get here. You don't reward that kind of conduct."

I like the Singapore/Malaysia style of amnesty, myself.

You have nine months to leave. Anyone caught after the amnesty period is up will be sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.

Anything less makes even more of a mockery of our immigration system than it already is. Giving any kind of legal status to these folks is a reward.

[WOSG]

Bob, your arugment is known as a non sequitor.

Just because President Bush has been a great President, indeed the second best of my lifetime, second only to Reagan, doesnt mean that he cant make mistakes or pursue policies that are wrong. This policy has merit but very serious flaws too, see the link to fairus.org and their position.

Reagan wasnt correct 100% of the time, neither is G W Bush.
And Bush tends to want to buy support - you know $15 billion for African AIDS, $400 billion for a drug benefit - pretty soon you are talking about real money.

Do we need to send a few billion to Mexico?
Do we need to provide a benefit to people who break the law and then use fake Soc sec #s to get around undetected?

That is the issue. Not whether we are sufficient supportive of a President who will likely win in a landlside anyway.

[Sabertooth]

yes

Then quit beating, and speak your mind. Something's up.
You flagged me to this thread twice.