Wal-Mart becomes a foil in partisan bickering

Democratic lawmakers in Harrisburg are joining a movement in several other states to try to recoup some of the rising costs of state-funded healthcare by going after large employers like Wal-Mart who skimp on employee coverage and let the government pick up the rest through Medicaid. The argument is that the profitability of these companies derives from a virtual government subsidy, but company supporters counter that some coverage (plus employment) is better than none.

This issue is highlighted in PA, where Wal-Mart is the state's biggest employer. Unmentioned today, however, is that Wal-Mart is one of Republican Senator Rick Santorum's biggest supporters, so I'm sure that any discussion that helps tie the company to poor labor practices is a boone for local Democrats and their hopes for 2006...