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House Passes Kids' Insurance Bill Despite Veto Threat

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 September 2007, 06:00 CDT

By Richard Wolf

WASHINGTON -- A major expansion of government health insurance to nearly 4 million children passed the House of Representatives Tuesday, but without enough Republican support to overcome President Bush's promised veto.

The vote was 265-159, with 45 Republicans supporting the bill. It would take 289 votes to override the president's veto.

The measure, which is likely to receive even more lopsided support in the Senate this week, is the most ambitious effort to reduce the number of uninsured Americans -- currently 47 million -- that Congress will consider before the 2008 election.

Only five days remain before the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program expires. Backup legislation is being prepared to extend the program on a short-term basis for its current 6.6 million participants, including about 600,000 adults. Bush urged Democrats to send him a "clean" extension so that no children lose coverage.

The bill passed Tuesday would add $35 billion over five years to the $5 billion-a-year program, $30billion more than Bush wants. It was crafted with Senate Republicans who insisted on concessions, such as phasing out coverage for childless adults and limiting federal funds for higher-income children.

"When you go home, the question is going to be, 'Were you with the kids or were you not?'" said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

Most Republicans argued that such a large expansion would still let families of four earning $62,000 or more qualify for the program. They cited Congressional Budget Office estimates that 2 million children will leave private insurance to enroll in the program. And they criticized the bill's reliance on a 61-cents-a-pack increase in the tobacco tax, which disproportionately affects the poor. "It dramatically expands the welfare state," said Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif.

The children's program was created in 1997 by President Clinton and a Republican-controlled Congress as a way to help the working poor who earned too much to qualify for Medicaid. Since then, some states have used it to expand coverage to families earning up to 350% of the poverty level, or $72,275 for a family of four.

Forty-one governors supported the bill, which provides more generous allotments of federal funds for state-run programs.

Nevertheless, the president remained firm in his promise to veto the bill, which he said goes too far toward federalizing health care. "The president is giving new meaning to the words 'suffer little children,'" said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Because a veto is expected, much of the attention Tuesday was on the political fallout. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chairman of the Republican congressional campaign committee, said Republicans will support a less costly compromise. "I don't think it will be a decisive bill in the 2008 elections," he said. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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