Hightower Lowdown

Need a little good news? It comes from an unlikely source: the massive tax bill that the Bushites rammed through Congress, giving away at least $325 billion of our tax dollars to rich Americans who neither need nor deserve it.

But sometimes there’s a jewel in the junkpile. Tucked into Bush’s massive giveaway is a little something to help regular folks. It’s a $20 billion provision to provide emergency aid for states grappling with our nation’s growing health-care crisis.

Nearly every state in America is facing a budget squeeze. To make ends meet, legislatures are whacking the health-care budgets that pay for essential services to seniors, low-income children, people with disabilities, and others without health coverage. Here in Texas, for example, legislators “fixed” a budget gap by tossing some 250,000 children off of the state’s health-care rolls. It’s children like these that the emergency healthcare money will help.

Don’t thank George for this $20 billion jewel. We owe it to an effort led by the Service Employees International Union. Half of its members are health-care employees on the front lines of meeting America’s needs. They’ve forged a coalition with community groups, seniors, and others and launched a “Put Families First” campaign, bombarding Congress with thousands of appeals for decency, fairness, and sanity.

The Bushites opposed this aid—but people power prevailed. To join the fight for good health-care, call SEIU: 202-898-3200.