Tsongas discusses health care, tries to bloody Ogonowski

As Democrat Niki Tsongas made campaign stops today in Lawrence and Lowell, she sought to distinguish her positions on health care and branded chief rival Republican Jim Ogonowski as being "in lockstep with the Bush Administration."

Tsongas supports expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which she said would bring health coverage to 42,000 Massachusetts children.

President Bush has signaled that he would veto the SCHIP legislation, but Tsongas said she would work to override the veto.

"Jim Ogonowski, on the other hand, has made his position clear: he opposes expansion of the SCHIP program," Tsongas said. "For voters who want to see change and progress in Washington, it’s clear it won’t come with Mr. Ogonowski."

Then, without specifically mentioning her late husband's battle with cancer, she said, "I know firsthand the challenges an illness can present to a family and believe that facing that without adequate health insurance is a hardship no family should be forced to endure."

Tsongas is also a member of the board of directors of the Worcester-based Fallon Community Health Plan.

Ogonowski has criticized the SCHIP bill on the grounds that it does not require a driver's license or proof of citizenship to enter the program, which he argues could allow illegal immigrants to enroll.

"I just don't think Niki gets it," Ogonowski said through a spokesman. "It's just another form of amnesty. How can we justify giving money to illegal immigrants with the squalor we have at Walter Reed? There's something that's just fundamentally wrong with that."

Supporters of the bill say it specifically says that it doesn't include funding for illegal immigrants, but they don't want to require potential enrollees to be dissuaded by having to go through the cumbersome process of supplying passports or original birth certificates.