From the NYTs:
President Bush’s threat to veto a bill intended to improve health care for the nation’s American Indians is both cruel and grossly unfair. Five years ago, the United States Commission on Civil Rights examined the government’s centuries-old treaty obligations for the welfare of Native Americans and found Washington spending 50 percent less per capita on their health care than is devoted to felons in prison and the poor on Medicaid.
From the New York Times:
The Bush administration threatened to veto Senate legislation designed to improve health care on Indian reservations, objecting to provisions involving pay and benefits for workers on some projects. The legislation would increase screening and mental health programs at the Indian Health Service, improve tribe members’ access to Medicare and Medicaid, and lead to new construction and modernization of health clinics on reservations. The bill would also require that the Davis Bacon Act, under which contractors and subcontractors must pay workers locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits, be applied to some of the projects. The administration said in a statement that the labor provision would violate longstanding administration policy.
Interestingly, NPR reported this morning that the Bush Administration’s reasoning was that the bill looses restrictions on proving citizenship in order to qualify for benefits. Guess they can’t keep their story straight….
Turtle Talk 