NE - Prenatal care bill which would have covered illegals done for now
Posted on Thursday, March 18 @ 01:18:05 EDT
Topic: money campaigns cost illegal immigration
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 The prenatal care bill is done for the year, finished by the governor's veto threat and election-year politics.
The measure (LB1110) would have re-created Nebraska's traditional program, with federal and state tax dollars paying for prenatal care for all low-income unborn children, and thus providing prenatal care to illegal immigrants.
Topics: Illegal immigration, prenatal care bill, tax dollars, illegal immigrants, veto threat, Nebraska legislature, Gov. Heineman
March 17, 2010
Nancy Hicks
JournalStar.com
Hours of debate on the issue would not change any minds, said Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, who acknowledged she didn't have enough votes to pass the measure and asked that it be postponed until the last day of the session, effectively eliminating its chances of passing.
The bill originally had more than 30 potential votes, but senators began backing away from the bill in the past two weeks after Gov. Dave Heineman voiced his strong opposition and his veto intent.
Heineman framed the issue as an immigration issue. Illegal immigrants should not get tax-supported public benefits, including government-funded prenatal care, he said.
But Campbell and others said this was a pro-life and healthy baby issue, assuring that all children born in the state have a chance for a healthy start.
With 13 senators facing opponents for re-election, the vote to continue prenatal care for everyone, including illegal immigrants, could be used against them in the election.
The vote would have become a "mail piece in the election" said Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, a co-sponsor of the prenatal care bill. Pushing back the bill avoided hours of debate that would not have changed any minds and would have provided the vote counts that would be used in the election, he said.
The failure to act on LB1110 is the biggest backward slide on pro-life issues in the last 25 years," said Omaha Sen. Heath Mello. "And it happened under a so-called pro-life governor."
The pro-life movement created the original prenatal program more than two decades ago, assuring that the state legally recognized the unborn and provided them with health benefits, Mello said.
But there is some fear that appearing to support illegal immigrants in any way can be political suicide, since Gov. Heineman's primary victory over former Nebraska football Coach Tom Osborne is often attributed, in part, to Osborne's support of allowing Nebraska high school graduates who are illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.
Senators agreed that the bill made financial sense, said Campbell and other senators. The state's Medicaid program will be paying for delivery of these children, since this is emergency health care, and it will be covering the cost of care for the baby, who is automatically a U.S. citizen. So providing prenatal care to all low-income women and avoiding expensive health costs later made sense, many senators said.
"It's an election issue, 100 percent. Without senators' concerns about their political future, we could have gotten this done, said Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, a co-sponsor of the bill.
Nebraskans should direct their anger and frustration over immigration to the federal government for their years of inattention, Campbell said.
Supporting senators said they would continue to monitor the prenatal care issue over the next year, including the 1,550 women who lost prenatal benefits on March 1. About 840 of those women are illegal immigrants.
"The fight is not over," said Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, a co-signer on the bill.
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