"Give and take" is usually what is meant by "compromise," however, in their efforts to radically expand government-subsidized healthcare services, some Members of Congress will once again refuse to pass legislation that will help those who need it most, low income children. Instead, their latest attempt to override the President's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) could include giving more contraceptives to children, taking away parents' right to consent to - or to even know about! - medical care given to their children through school-based health clinics.

Rather than trying to resolve problems that the Administration and other opponents have with the bill, Members in favor of H.R. 3963, the "compromise" legislation, have only added to the problem. Recently, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) stated that unless Members find a solution, Democrats will plan to pass a long-term extension of SCHIP that will last until the fall of next year. So much for the liberals' claim that this is not a political issue.

In the "compromise" legislation, provisions to cover illegal immigrants, adults, middle-class income families and failure to codify the unborn child rule have been well documented. However, there is a provision in this bill that could also require states to pay for family planning contraceptive services to children. Current language of the SCHIP bill could also drastically enlarge the number of eligible children able to receive contraception without their parents' knowledge or consent. Under Medicaid-SCHIP, any eligible child who has reached puberty has a legal right to contraception¹ and a legal right to confidentiality. ² Effectively, SCHIP and Medicaid together could abolish any and all federal regulations that restrict the use of such funds in school-based health clinics.

According to Daniel Maloney of the Heritage Foundation, two provisions of the "compromise" bill, sections 506 and 616, would allow SCHIP and Medicaid funding to go to school-based health clinics, making it easier and cheaper to provide free contraception to children without their parents' knowledge.

Primary funding sources of government subsidized state family planning services comes from a federal block grant, Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Through millions of taxpayer dollars, Title X has been the vehicle through which Medicaid-based family planning programs have provided contraception and abortion services to children. Effectively, family planning services under SCHIP have shown that expanding the program to distribute contraceptives to more children without the knowledge of their parents leaves parents in the dark about the health of their children. Making it easier for children to access contraceptives is not an improvement, nor does it conform to the original intent of SCHIP.

So-called improvements promoted by supporters of H.R. 3963 do nothing to help strengthen low-income families or children. It is the responsibility and right of parents, not the federal government, to oversee all aspects of their children's healthcare needs. A compromise that cuts parents out of their children's lives is exactly the wrong kind of compromise Congress should make. It will be difficult for Congress to pass an SCHIP bill that President Bush will sign if liberals continue to measure their successfulness and willingness to compromise by how much they can lose or gain politically.