The clock is also ticking on SCHIP, so it looks like this week will be SCHIP week. As you may remember, SCHIP is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It expires September 30. The program was designed for families who earn too much money and do not qualify for Medicaid and also can’t afford to buy private insurance.

In August the House and the Senate passed two different bills. They needed to be reconciled and then sent to the President. The House and the Senate have supposedly come to a compromise and the bill will be voted on this week.

The President has threatened to veto it.

Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, did not like the House version of the bill and he thought the Senate version was much more workable. It appears he likes the compromise version.

It’s funny how the different versions of the Lee Newspapers here in Montana portrayed Rehberg’s view with their headlines:

The Missoulian: “Rehberg changes position, plans to vote for SCHIP bill.”

Billings Gazette: “Compromise SCHIP bill appeals to Rehberg”

Helena IR: “Rehberg backs revised SCHIP bill”

The Montana Standard: “Rehberg backs revised CHIP bill”

Maybe it’s a regional thing? Or political?

The bottom line is that Rehberg had supported SCHIP and felt the senate version was better than the House version. His “No” vote on the House version was the correct thing to do then because giving the benefits to illegal aliens and taking money from senior citizens to pay for it was not the right way to go.

It appears that Rehberg’s ideas made some sense to others in the House, as they are now supposedly taking those two parts out of the bill. That’s called compromise and that’s what a great statesman strives to accomplish.