Governors name priorities

Stateline.org, Feb. 28, 2007
"Health care, REAL ID top govs' priorities"
The nation’s governors staked out children’s health care and the National Guard as top concerns for a Democratic-controlled Congress that is preoccupied with the war in Iraq, a daunting federal deficit and the problem of uninsured Americans.

In their first gathering since Democrats took control of Congress last November, governors made it clear that they want to play a major role on issues that the White House and Capitol Hill will tackle in the coming year, namely:

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), a popular children’s health program that technically expires this fall.

The federal No Child Left Behind education law, which imposes testing requirements and sanctions on schools that fail to make yearly improvement and is up for renewal this year.

The U.S. military’s heavy reliance on National Guard units to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan leaving some states stretched in terms of manpower and equipment.

REAL ID, a federal sweeping mandate that states revamp driver’s licenses by May 2008 to help keep licenses out of the hands of terrorists and illegal aliens.