Congressman Hayes would prefer you smoke instead of having a healthy kid.

Unbelievable. That was my first reaction when I heard How Robin Hayes keeps voting against the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill. I'm pretty sure you'll agree with Me after you read what his reasoning behind his vote is.

I didn't write this post to debate the actual SCHIP program, although I will do that soon, but I just wanted everyone to realize why Robin Hayes says he keeps voting against it. You see, even if you're a republican you'll have to agree that Hayes' logic on this one is extremely twisted.

Contrary to what I hear from most republicans, including our dearest President, Hayes is not against the SCHIP bill because it would "be a first step toward government run healthcare....bla bla....communists....9/11". That logic is crazy and dead wrong, but at least there's some logic to it.

No, Hayes is all for SCHIP, the only thing he disagrees with is the way it is funded. The way the expansion of the SCHIP program would be paid for is by raising the taxes on a pack of cigarettes by 61 cents. He fears it would hurt the North Carolina tobacco industry.

First of all, I don't think anyone is going to stop smoking because they would have to pay 61 cents more for a pack of cigs. Even if they do, is that a problem? I thought that quitting smoking was a good thing?
Tell me honestly, would you have a problem paying 3 cents more per cigarette you smoke if you knew that this money would pay for health care for millions of children?? Apparently Hayes thinks you'd have a problem with that.

Hayes quotes some economist that's been working for the tobacco industry for years and he estimates the damage to the NC tobacco industry would be $540 million. I seriously doubt these numbers because, like I said, I don't believe anyone is going to stop smoking because a cigarette costs 3 cents more. Even if you do believe this number, there is one thing Hayes forgets to mention.

He forgets to tell you that on Oct. 22, 2004, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Tobacco Transition Payment Program, better known as the tobacco buyout. This program pours approximately $3.9 billion into the North Carolina Tobacco farmers' pockets over a 10-year period. According to the program "Growers must use their producer payments to transition to a new era of tobacco production, out of tobacco production to other agricultural enterprises, or out of tobacco production to a non-farming occupation." So basically, it pays tobacco farmers to switch their business to growing something else.
The conclusion is that Hayes feels sorry for NC tobacco farmers because now, according to his own numbers, they'll only get $3.36 billion in taxpayers' money ($3.9 billion - the $540 million in "damages"). Awww... don't you feel sorry for them too?

I came up with a solution for Hayes that would let him support the tobacco industry and at the same time allow him to vote for SCHIP. Why doesn't he start a program to encourage as many kids as possible to start smoking? These kids would then support our tobacco industry and at the same time pay for their own health care program through the taxes they pay on their pack of cigs. Brilliant!

Seriously though, we need a representative in Congress who understands what "regular people" in our 8th Congressional district go through every day and how a lot of us are really struggling and having a hard time ensuring our kids have healthcare. Robin Hayes didn't have to struggle one minute of his life, he doesn't understand us and he never will. We don't need someone who was born with a silver spoon representing us in Washington, we need one of us. One of us last time came within 300 votes of firing Hayes from his job and next year he'll be giving Hayes his pink slip.

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