On Monday, liberal late-night host Jimmy Kimmel once again used his show to launch nasty attacks against Republicans over the issue of health care. While urging Congress to approve funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (C.H.I.P.), the comedian-turned-activist labeled the effort to pass tax reform “disgusting” and accused the GOP of “putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children.”
Despite Kimmel’s incendiary rhetoric, on Tuesday, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning hailed his advocacy as a “passionate plea” and “serious message” to lawmakers. Both morning shows conveniently edited out the host’s most hostile and partisan invective while featuring highlights of the monologue.
“Now C.H.I.P. has become a bargaining chip, it’s on the back burner while they work out their new tax plans,” Kimmel warned. Predicting that “parents of children with cancer and diabetes and heart problems are about to get letters saying their coverage could be cut off next month” if the program did not receive funding, he sneered: “Merry Christmas, right?”
Rather than simply push for the funding, Kimmel couldn’t resist painting Republicans as uncaring villains: “This is literally a life and death program for American kids. It’s always had bipartisan support, but this year they let the money for it expire while they work on getting tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire donors.”
“I don’t know about you, I’ve had enough of this. I don’t know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children,” Kimmel blasted. He then told his audience to contact their representatives: “Jam the House and Senate phones tonight, tomorrow, as long as it takes. Tell them to take a break from tax cuts for a minute and fully fund C.H.I.P. immediately.”
After saying his piece on C.H.I.P., Kimmel proceeded to double down on his push to save ObamaCare:
And I also want to remind everyone that Friday is the last day to enroll in the Affordable Health Care Plan [sic]. In spite of President Trump’s efforts to sweep it under his rug, ObamaCare is not dead, it’s very much alive. Millions of people qualify for a reduced rate or even totally free plans. But you only have four days left to sign up, so if you do not have health insurance, go to healthcare.gov and get it. You have to do it by December 15th. And by the way, if you don’t do it, you will pay a penalty of at least $695 next year, if you don’t have insurance. So do it. Right, Billy? Do it.
Rather than hold Kimmel accountable for his ugly language, on Tuesday, ABC and CBS were eager to gush over his “message” and completely ignore his vicious ranting. “And Billy Kimmel’s big debut....How he’s doing after that second heart surgery and his father’s passionate plea to all kids in need,” Robin Roberts proclaimed at the top of Good Morning America. Fellow co-host Michael Strahan declared: “And, Robin, as you like to say, take your mess an make it your message, and Jimmy’s done that with what Billy’s gone through. And he has a message for Congress...”
Introducing a full segment on Kimmel’s monologue minutes later, co-host George Stephanopoulos announced: “We’re going to move on now to that powerful moment on Jimmy Kimmel last night....Jimmy made a passionate plea to Congress to pass health care for all children in need. Take a look.”
After playing carefully edited clips of Kimmel, avoiding his most controversial remarks, Stephanopoulos joined the late-night host in calling on viewers to pressure Congress:
You know, this Children’s Health Insurance Program has never ever been controversial. Bipartisan passed by Republicans and Democrats year after year after year, but it’s just gotten held up by all these controversies in Congress now. So it’s actually important to have those phone calls made.
Roberts chimed in: “And Jimmy and Molly have faced criticism for being so outspoken. But they said if they can save one child’s life it is totally worth it.”
On CBS This Morning, co-host Gayle King fawned: “Last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live was a family affair, with a serious message in between all the jokes.” After only playing a few seconds of Kimmel’s commentary, she followed up: “Kimmel had help on his monologue, you see eight-month-old Billy, to push Congress to restore funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is stuck in a political stalemate.”
Kimmel’s politically-charged tirade was brought to viewers by Aflac, Google Pixel 2, and Energizer.
Here is a full transcript of his December 11 monologue:
11:36 PM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: Hi, I’m Jimmy and this is Billy. I was out last week because this guy had heart surgery. But look, he’s fine, everybody.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
He may have pooped, but he’s fine. And I want to thank Chris Pratt and Tracee Ellis Ross and Neil Patrick Harris and Melissa McCarthy for filling in for us last week. They each gave a full day of their very busy lives to give me time off and I’m grateful to them for doing that. And daddy cries on TV, but Billy doesn’t, it’s unbelievable.
[LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE]
And we also want to thank the very bright and talented doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital for – who treated Billy, and not just Billy, many kids, with so much caring and compassion. Children from every income level whose health is especially threatened right now because of something you’ve probably never heard of, it’s called C.H.I.P. C.H.I.P. is the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It covers around – it covers around nine million American kids whose parents make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but don’t have access to coverage, affordable coverage through their jobs. Which means it almost certainly covers children you know. About one in eight children are covered only by C.H.I.P.
And it’s not controversial, it’s not a partisan thing. In fact, the last time funding for C.H.I.P. was authorized was in 2015, it passed with a vote of 392 to 37 in the House and 92 to 8 in the Senate. Overwhelmingly, Democrats and Republicans supported it, until now. Now C.H.I.P. has become a bargaining chip, it’s on the back burner while they work out their new tax plans. Which means parents of children with cancer and diabetes and heart problems are about to get letters saying their coverage could be cut off next month. Merry Christmas, right?
So this happened because Congress, about 72 days ago, failed to approve funding for C.H.I.P. since the first time it was created two decades ago. This is literally a life and death program for American kids. It’s always had bipartisan support, but this year they let the money for it expire while they work on getting tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire donors. And imagine getting that letter, literally not knowing how you’ll be able to afford to save your child’s life. This is not a hypothetical, about two million C.H.I.P. kids have serious chronic conditions.
I don’t know about you, I’ve had enough of this. I don’t know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children. Why hasn’t C.H.I.P. been funded already? If these were potato chips they were taking away from us, we would be marching on Washington with pitchforks and spears right now.
So once again, I’m asking you, Billy’s asking you to make two phone calls you shouldn’t have to make. Jam the House and Senate phones tonight, tomorrow, as long as it takes. Tell them to take a break from tax cuts for a minute and fully fund C.H.I.P. immediately. Call your representatives in the House and Senate at this number. You can get to both – leave messages for both of them. Don’t let them keep pushing it off, they need to fund C.H.I.P. now.
And I also want to remind everyone that Friday is the last day to enroll in the Affordable Health Care Plan [sic]. In spite of President Trump’s efforts to sweep it under his rug, ObamaCare is not dead, it’s very much alive. Millions of people qualify for a reduced rate or even totally free plans. But you only have four days left to sign up, so if you do not have health insurance, go to healthcare.gov and get it. You have to do it by December 15th. And by the way, if you don’t do it, you will pay a penalty of at least $695 next year, if you don’t have insurance. So do it. Right, Billy? Do it.
And Billy’s doing great, by the way. He has one more surgery.
[ CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
And this is amazing, he had an operation a week ago, they say he’s probably on track to win at least a bronze medal in the Olympics in 2036.
