The Bush administration’s limits on expansions of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are unlawful, according to Congress’s investigative arm.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unlawfully bypassed congressional review when it issued a directive to states in August alerting them that federal authorities would seek to restrict raising the income eligibility level for the program, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded in a report issued Thursday.
“Both GAO and CRS have now confirmed what so many of us have known for some time, that the administration clearly overstepped its legal authority in issuing the Aug. 17 letter,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who requested the GAO report along with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
TVNL Comment: Just add this to the long list of crimes comitted by this administration that go unpunished and are permitted to continue.
