For the second time in two months, President Bush yesterday vetoed legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program in an effort to prevent Congressional Democrats from spending an additional $35 billion on the public program.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) indicated yesterday that the SCHIP battle is far from over, saying, "Let it be clear that Democrats will not rest until 10 million children have access to healthcare, and that it is paid for."
In his veto announcement, Bush said, "Our nation's goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage - not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage."
Other efforts to reauthorize SCHIP this year have included a previously vetoed five-year, $35 billion expansion and an initial $50 billion bill known as the CHAMP Act, which was offered by the House last summer. The bill vetoed yesterday sought to achieve a compromise with Republicans on financial points of contention, such as stipulations that would give states control over income eligibility caps.
Most opponents of the legislation argued yet again that the $35 billion price tag was too hefty and that the expansion would shift more families into a single-payer healthcare scheme.
The tone of Congressional Democrats' responses to Bush's announcement suggests that this second veto may have hit harder than the first: supporters of SCHIP expansion rebounded with talk of new legislation shortly after the first veto in October. Democrats in November threatened to extend SCHIP's deadline until next year's presidential elections if Bush's promised veto was sustained a second time.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said that many states are in need of SCHIP renewal because of funding shortfalls. Nebraska faces a $14 million shortfall in its SCHIP program, he noted.
"I am very disappointed that petty politics have blocked the extension and expansion of children's healthcare, particularly as many changes were made to alleviate the concerns of critics," Nelson said. "I hope we can try again and finally get this bipartisan bill signed into law. But if that is not possible in this poisonous environment, any extension must include enough funding to address shortfalls faced by many states."