Congressman Dean Heller, who has grown into a unabashed partisan in his short time in Congress, has repeatedly given wrong information to his constituents to justify his opposition to a children’s health care bill.

Heller joined other Republicans today in voting to uphold the President’s veto of a bill to expand the State Children’s Health Care program, which already provides health care to 30,000 Nevada children and would extend coverage to another 35,000 low-income kids in Nevada.

Heller repeatedly said that the bill would provide health care to illegal immigrants, even though there is a provision in the bill to ensure recipients are citizens. “What I won't support is an SCHIP bill that includes illegals,” Heller said on Nevada Newsmakers Oct. 10.

Even his Republican colleagues disagree on that point.

“Section 605 of our bill states the following: ‘Nothing in this Act allows Federal payment for individuals who are not legal residents,’” a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders wrote in an Oct. 17 press release titled, “Finance leaders fight myths on children’s health as House vote to override veto approaches.”

“We corrected a loophole that would have allowed illegal aliens to enroll in SCHIP,” said Montana Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg .

Heller went so far to bend the truth that he told the Reno Gazette-Journal this week that protestors who held rallies outside of his offices in Las Vegas and Reno were upset that illegal immigrants don’t get more coverage under the bill.  “Heller says the protesters outside his office were advocating for insurance coverage for illegal immigrants,” [“Heller to uphold child health veto,” Oct. 17, 2007, Reno Gazette-Journal]

In fact, both protests were driven by health care professionals who said they are concerned about the number of uninsured children they see in emergency rooms with untreated illnesses. [“Health insurance for kids at heart of Reno protest,” Oct. 16, 2007, The Sparks Tribune]

“Dean Heller might be willing to use play shameless political games to protect the President, but he’s doing is at the expense of Nevada’s children,” said Kirsten Searer, deputy executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party.  “He is doing more than stretching the truth — he is misleading his constituents on the health care crisis, and its impact on children who go without health care.  The 115,000 Nevada children without health insurance deserve much better.”