Thread: TX - Border leaders offer agenda

Border leaders offer agenda

By Andrew Kreighbaum / Austin Bureau
Posted: 01/29/2009 12:00:00 AM MST


AUSTIN -- Making sure more children on the border have access to health care and making travel to Mexico faster and more efficient are priorities for a group of border leaders who visited the Texas Capitol on Wednesday.
El Paso County Attorney José RodrÃ*guez and Sylvia Firth from Mayor John Cook's office attended a meeting of the Texas Border Coalition.

The group said it would push for expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.

"The reason why this is important for El Paso and the other border areas is we have the highest rates of uninsured in the country," RodrÃ*guez said.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, on Wednesday filed a bill that would expand CHIP coverage to children in households with income at or below three times the federal poverty level. The poverty line for a family of four is $21,200.

The group also plans to lobby for a new medical school in the Rio Grande Valley.

"If you get a medical school in the Valley, you are going to be training more doctors," RodrÃ*guez said.

Doctors who are trained on the border, where health-care professionals are in short supply, are more likely to stay there, RodrÃ*guez said.

The coalition also proposes $13.3 billion in transportation money to relieve congestion at border crossings in El Paso, Pharr and Laredo.

The coalition will push national leaders for comprehensive immigration reform and ask state lawmakers to avoid the topic, Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada said.

Its members will
oppose state bills that target undocumented immigrants and will lobby new U.S. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano to halt construction of the border fence in the state.

Andrew Kreighbaum may be reached at akreighbaum@elpasotimes.com


http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_11577697

"The group said it would push for expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP."

Like age 30 for a child isn't enough?
This is just one more Comprehensive Healthcare issue being shoved down our throats, piece by piece.
This ought to go over real well!

"Children on the border"

Which side of the border?

Texas Border Coalition agenda targets health care, immigration

January 30, 2009 - 9:59 PM
By KEVIN SIEFF/The Brownsville Herald

BROWNSVILLE - The Texas Border Coalition has put together an agenda for the ongoing state legislative session, focusing on the unique health care, immigration and commercial needs of border communities.

If those needs are taken care of, TBC members say, the entire state of Texas will benefit.

The coalition, which is comprised of border politicians and businessmen, will focus its efforts on relieving congestion at border crossings, expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and lobbying for an enhanced driver's license which could be used to cross into Mexico.

In the last year, TBC played an active role in the debate over the border fence, pointing out to top federal officials the potential damage the barrier could cause along the Texas border. But during the 2009 legislative session, the coalition will largely refrain from touching on immigration issues.

"It's federal law, not state law that dictates immigration policy," Monica Weisberg-Stewart, TBC's immigration chairwoman, said on Friday. "Any change has to come from the federal level."

She added that when state legislators introduce immigration bills, the legislation is often mired in courts.

Still, 17 immigration-related bills are up for the Legislature's consideration, ranging from human trafficking issues to employment regulations.
Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada Jr., a TBC member, believes some of the proposed bills are anti-immigrant in nature.

"Will legislation be introduced to make it illegal to be brown?" Ahumada wrote in a press release made public Friday.

TBC also proposed $13.3 billion in transportation money to alleviate congestion at border crossings.

"The border is the gateway to commerce for the state of Texas," said Teclo Garcia, a member of TBC's transportation committee. "During tough economic times, cross-border commerce is critically important."

Ahumada traveled to Austin this week to introduce his own legislative package to the TBC. He said his package reflects the Valley's needs, which include a high-speed train to the Valley, and funding for roads, a desalinization plant and homeland security.

"We must be very focused and united in pushing for our fair share of funding," Ahumada said.

www.valleymorningstar.com