SCHIP passes bitches!

This is the kind of news that should be everywhere, but is nowhere to be found unless you're a policy junkie like me. Yes, the SCHIP bill, which grants health insurance to millions of children who are not at the poverty line but do not have health care, passed today.

This was, of course, after the Republican refused to pass it last year. Kudos to the new Democratic congress and Mr. Obama, who will sign the bill when he gets into office. The bad news? It's funded by cigarette tax. Can't you just let smokers be damn it?

Reporting from Washington -- The House of Representatives today approved a major expansion of federally funded health coverage for children, kicking off what Democrats hope will be a historic legislative campaign this year to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.

The legislation -- which passed on a largely party-line 289-139 vote -- would commit about $33 billion over the next 4 1/2 years to the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program.

It would cover an additional 4 million children, nearly cutting in half the number of children in America without insurance, a top priority of Democrats since the party took control of Congress two years ago.

The Senate, where senior lawmakers are working on their own version of the bill, is expected to back the expansion soon.

President-elect Barack Obama has indicated he will sign the measure -- funded primarily by a 61-cent increase in the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes.