WASHINGTON - Despite Congress' efforts to compromise on legislation to provide health insurance for 10 million poor children, President Bush's stance on the State Children's Health Insurance Program hasn't changed. He's set to veto the most recent version of the bill that he vetoed in October.
With that in mind, and with strong doubts as to whether a two-thirds majority could be mustered to override another veto, Congressional Democrats now are posing a threat of their own: if compromise isn't reached on SCHIP, they'll aim to extend the program until Sept. 30, 2008, shortly before the presidential elections. This could potentially jeopardize GOP candidates who oppose major expansion of the popular program.
At the time this article went to print, House Republicans were prepping their own SCHIP renewal bill in response to Democrats' most recent proposal. The Democrats' bill, issued by the Senate Finance Committee, would impose a $62,000 cap on income level eligibility increases.
But the Democrats are facing internal problems of their own. On Nov. 14, eight Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), advising against limitations on their states' ability to cover poor parents along with children. The senators, representing five states, warned that such compromise on SCHIP legislation could erode their support of the bill, The New York Times reported.
The Senate on Nov. 1 moved to limit debate on the new SCHIP bill introduced by members of the Senate Finance Committee. Under the bill, the federal cigarette tax would be increased by 61 cents per pack to fund SCHIP expansion.
"Before us today is a bill that addresses many of the concerns that Senators expressed with the first (S)CHIP bill," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in a floor statement on Nov. 1. "And so, there is no reason why anyone who supported the first bill on Sept. 27 would not do so again today. And there is every reason why those who objected to the first bill would support this bill today."