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Steve King Takes Credit For Blocking Health Care Coverage for 26,000 Kids in Iowa

Contact:  Brooke Borkenhagen, Press Secretary   515-244-7292 Ext 680 (office)  

 
Des Moines – In a damaging article that highlights his inability to deliver for the 5^th Congressional District, Steve King attempts to defend his dismal record, but instead continues to show why he is one of the most out of touch politicians of our time.

In an interview with the Sioux City Journal, Steve King cites his effort to block Democratic legislation in the last two years as one of his major accomplishments.

“That very well may be the best contribution that I have made in the 110^th Congress, is slowing down, sometimes stopping Democratic-sponsored bills,” King said.

King specifically cites his efforts to derail the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), known locally as the Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa (HAWK-I) program.  King was the lone member of Iowa’s congressional delegation to stand with President Bush in opposition to this popular, bipartisan legislation.   

“I do believe if you took me out of the equation, there would have been a different funding result,” King said.

SCHIP legislation sought to extend coverage to 26,000 low-income children across Iowa who are currently eligible for the program, but remain uninsured.

 "Steve King should be ashamed of himself,” said Brooke Borkenhagen, Press Secretary for the Iowa Democratic Party.  “Bragging to the media that he helped to block 26,000 of Iowa’s most vulnerable children from being able to go to the doctor is indefensible.   Western Iowans deserve a leader who will fight for working families and rural communities during these tough economic times.”

 The full article is attached below.

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Sioux City Journal: How effective is Steve King?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

By Bret Hayworth

Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King is best known for his conservative viewpoint and propensity for controversial remarks.

But in his three terms in Washington, D.C., the loquacious Republican congressman from Kiron has also secured millions of dollars toward the widening of Highway 20, helped expand the blender's credit for ethanol producers and fashioned a reputation as a budget hawk.

But just how effective has King been since he was first elected in 2002?

Political opponents point to King's relative lack of success passing sponsored legislation and decry what they call embarrassing behavior. Of the 44 bills King has sponsored according to www.GovTrack.us, three have made it out of committee and only one has been acted. The piece of legislation? House Resolution 847: Recognizing the importance of Christmas the Christian faith.

"That shows you something. (King) talks a big game, but he can't back it up," said Jon Neunaber of Akron, chairman of the Plymouth County Democratic Party. King faces Democratic challenger Rob Hubler of Council Bluffs in November.

Sponsored legislation, however, is just one measure. In fact, U.S. House Office of the Clerk press secretary Kyle Anderson said far less than 1 percent of all bills introduced make it into law. For example, 6,375 bill have been introduced in the 110th Congress and 247 have been passed.

In mulling his effectiveness as a congressman, King said western Iowans will answer the question differently, in part given their political affiliation.

"I don't know how I can give you numbers and quantify my service here," King said.

Neunaber said King focuses on getting national publicity -- like his advocacy on the House floor of a model wall he'd build to stem illegal immigration from Mexico -- to the detriment of delivering results that will advance the quality of life in the 5th District.

"He does what his bosses in Washington want him to do," Neunaber said.

King's priorities

When discussing successes, King points to the role he played in shepherding into law an expansion of a tax credit available to small ethanol and biodiesel producers. Introduced in the first few weeks of his U.S. House career, the language King argued for expanded the blender's credit for ethanol producers and was included in the Energy Users Act of 2005.

"I introduced it, it was wrapped up in another bill, we (passed it and) sent it over to the Senate. The Senate picked it up, I think (Iowa U.S. Sen.) Chuck Grassley put a hand on it, gave it a nudge along the way, and it arrived to the president's desk," King said.

"I'm the first one to introduce that language, so no one else can claim to originate it. I did work it hard and worked it through here in the House. But if it hadn't been for Grassley in the Senate, I don't know what would have happened."

In three terms spanning five and a half years, King has focused on taxation, ethanol production, immigration reform and social issues.

"I have been a budget hawk, and I've been clear about that. (Fifth District residents) don't have a congressman equivocator representing them. They know where I stand," King said.

In fall 2002 when running for the congressional seat, King set two infrastructure goals -- dredging the lake at Storm Lake for better water clarity and getting U.S. Highway 20 widened from two to four lanes in western Iowa.

King, 59, said he's not satisfied with the funding directed to Storm Lake and U.S. 20, but said both projects are well on the way to being accomplished. King's office reports he has been responsible for $35 million for U.S. 20, but did not provide a Storm Lake funding total.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, also an outspoken advocate for Storm Lake dredging, directed $1.3 million in funding to the dredging project from 2004 to 2006, according to his office. Harkin's office reported Storm Lake has received $1.5 million over those years, with the other $200,000 coming from King's actions.

The cost for expanding U.S. 20 from two to four lanes over 90 miles from Moorland to Moville is estimated to cost $520 million. King has specified his $35 million is for portions west of U.S. Highway 71 in Woodbury, Ida and Sac counties.

"It's a given that Highway 20 will be completed all the way to Sioux City," King said. "I believe I have given every effort to keep my word on those two (infrastructure) things. Both of those things will get done."

King said as he's served in Congress, he's broadened the infrastructure funding list to Interstate 29 interchanges in Council Bluffs and Sioux City, along with the Outer Drive expansion in Sioux City.

How others view him

Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president and Iowa Department of Transportation Commissioner Debi Durham, the 2002 Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, said the $35 million King has secured for Highway 20 is "realistic."

"I think it is a good number," she said. "I would say that Congressman King's office, when it comes to Highway 20, has been extremely effective."

Neunaber said King's funding for Highway 20 isn't flush enough. Neunaber, born in 1970, said four-laning Highway 20 has been discussed since he was a newborn, and predicted King won't deliver.

Durham also brought up King's role beginning in 2005 in the protracted debate -- still unsettled -- on whether the U.S. Postal Service will close a mail processing facility in Sioux City.

"He was tenacious on that and actively engaged," she said.

However, she said the chamber's position on immigration reform has some variances with King's stance.

On issue like immigration and terrorism, King has been particularly outspoken and drawn the ire of opponents and some constituents in the process.

In 2004, King compared the treatment of Abu Ghraib prisoners in Iraq to hazing. In 2006, he said the streets of Iraq were safer than those of Washington, D.C. Also in 2006, he suggested using an electrified border fence, arguing "we do that with livestock all the time."

Earlier this year, King was under fire for predicting that if Barack Obama was elected president "the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida ... would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11...."

He's never backed down from those comments or apologized. In fact, he has said such comments are needed to spark debate and discussion.

After the comments about Obama in March, Iowa Democrats didn't hide their disdain.

"I didn't take it to be about religion at all," said Monona County Democratic Party chairman Ken Mertes. "I just took it to be his consistently racist remarks."

Slayer of the Democratic agenda?

King said Congress has changed in the two years since Democrats took control of the House in 2006.

"I'm sitting in an environment where the Speaker of the House is Nancy Pelosi, so the aspirations to pass legislation between now and the end of this (110th) Congress is an entirely different arena than it was in the 109th Congress," King said. "That (Democratic) agenda is an entirely different agenda and I have to work within the confines of that. It's going to sound like my aspirations have diminished, (but) I'm still swinging for the fences all the time I can. So I'm not going get done what I'd like to get done."

King said, in spite of being in the minority, he introduced and successfully passed 12 amendments on the House floor in 2007 and 2008.

King said his No. 1 legislative goal is to get rid of the national income tax and replace it with a national sales/consumption tax, dubbed Fair Tax. He's advocated for that tax change all his years in Congress, contending it would unhook the anchor of tax compliance dragging down the economy. He's also been a cosponsor for the Fair Tax, which hasn't made it out of committee. In King's first term, for instance, the bill was HR46 and had about 50 cosponsors.

King said another way to look at his effectiveness is to examine how many Democratic bills he's blocked in the last two years.

"That very well may be the best contribution that I have made in this 110th Congress, is slowing down, sometimes stopping" Democratic-sponsored bills," he said.

King said the extended 2007 funding debate for reauthorization of the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program was a key moment. The measure was initially written for an increase of $35 billion, but was scaled back before being signed by President Bush in December.

King took to the House floor last fall with a sign that said the SCHIP acronym should instead stand for "Socialized Clinton-style Hillarycare for Illegals and their Parents."

"I do believe if you took me out of the equation, there would have been a different (funding) result," King said.