But Congress, which could be acting as a buffer against his spendthrift proclivities, seems incapable of getting spending under control. Unless our political leaders can curb their fiscal licentiousness, the last thing they ought to be considering is more spending.

On immigration, first I'd like to state that immigrants, like native-born Americans, are good people.

I am the proud granddaughter of a Cuban citizen. But mass immigration (both legal and illegal) and its expansive impact on our budget and on our quality of life must be considered separately from the economic plight of individual immigrants.

The fact is, many of the lower- and even middle-class kids who will benefit from an expansion of the SCHIP program are the children of immigrants. The progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported last month: "Non-citizen immigrants were much more likely to be uninsured (45 percent uninsured) than native-born citizens (13 percent)."

The best way to provide health insurance for all American children is to eradicate poverty. An educated populace can fend for itself and is far less dependent on government handouts for family basics (such as health insurance) than an uneducated one.

Congress and the president should re-direct the money they would otherwise spend on handouts to education programs. If America offered universal quality education to all citizens at the grade-school and college levels, the need for massive government supports, like SCHIP, would dwindle.

We need to enforce border control and eradicate illegal immigration. We need, simultaneously, to change legal-immigration policy so that we selectively allow in newcomers who contribute to our economy, instead of relying more heavily than the general populace on government supports. If Congress and the president had the political will to do this, the battle over SCHIP would decompose like last week's trash.

Does such will exist? Sadly, no.

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Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail bonnieerbe@CompuServe.com.