Bush Veto Upheld on Children's Program ; House Vote Falls 13 Short on Health Insurance Rise

Oct 19, 08:30 PM

Current Headlines: By Jerry Zremski

House Democrats on Thursday failed in their effort to override President Bush's veto of an expansion of a popular children's health insurance program for low-income working families.

The Democratic majority fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds needed for a veto override, as House Republicans -- including Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds of Clarence and Rep. Randy Kuhl of Hammondsport - - stuck with the president, who called the bill too expensive.

After the 273-156 vote, both Democrats and Republicans vowed to try to negotiate for a bipartisan expansion of the 10-year-old program, which is set to expire in mid-November unless Congress acts.

But members of both parties also colored their calls for compromise with some tough rhetoric.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the party was willing to negotiate a deal on the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, so long as it would expand the program to cover the 10 million children who would have been covered under the bill that failed.

"That's nonnegotiable," Pelosi said.

Meanwhile, Kuhl said Democrats face a choice.

"They can either work with the Republicans to reauthorize and expand SCHIP to cover every poor American child or they can continue to play politics and risk the lives of million of uninsured children," Kuhl said.

The debate over the veto override proved to be exceptionally heated, even though Democrats had expected to lose the vote.

"You either stand with our children or you stand against them," said Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic whip. "There is no in-between."

Meanwhile, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said the expanded program would result in "HillaryCare for illegal immigrants and their parents."

At issue is a program that now covers 6 million children -- and that would cover an additional 4 million under the proposed expansion at a price tag of $35 billion.

The program is aimed at children of working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor, but who still cannot afford health insurance.

New York State finds itself in the center of the debate over the issue because of its efforts to vastly expand Child Health Plus, the state's version of the children's health program.

The Bush administration last month rejected the state's proposal to expand eligibility for the program to families at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Eligibility had been set at 250 percent of the poverty level.

New York has joined with other states to sue the federal government over that rejection. And in a statement released after Thursday's vote, Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson criticized Kuhl and Reynolds for backing the president.

"At this time, we are committed and remain steadfast in our position and support of SCHIP," Spitzer and Paterson said. "We fully intend to proceed with our multistate lawsuit against the federal government and will pursue a solution that gives states the flexibility to put our children on the road to a long and healthy life."

Liberal groups, which had been excoriating Reynolds and Kuhl for weeks over their stance on the issue, also vowed to keep up the pressure on the 154 Republicans who sided with Bush on the issue.

But weeks of ads and automated phone calls did not sway any Republican lawmakers to change their position and vote for the override. Instead, the Republican line hardened, as GOP lawmakers came to feel that Democrats and their allies were using the issue as a political bludgeon.

"I think the president vetoed this bill because, frankly, I think the majority sent it to him to ensure it was vetoed," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. "There were no conversations in this House between Democrats and Republicans on what this bill would ever look like."

Democrats contend that the bill is a landmark effort to extend a successful program to the middle class. "It is a sad day when some of my fellow members of the House are unable to break from their misplaced Bush loyalty -- and with that, deny millions of children across the nation access to health care," said Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport.

But Republicans say the proposed SCHIP expansion is deeply flawed. L.D. Platt, a spokesman for Reynolds, said that it would allow illegal aliens with fake Social Security numbers to enroll in the program.

Kuhl, meanwhile, said congressional negotiators ought to focus on providing health care to children of low-income families. "The nature of the program is to help the poor kids first," Kuhl said.

However, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, said that many of the Republican arguments were flatly wrong. For example, he said, the bill includes language explicitly barring illegal immigrants from getting SCHIP benefits.

In wake of the failed veto override, "we'll have to go back and have another whack at this thing," Higgins said.

That's just what the White House intends to do. Bush named Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and two top White House aides to negotiate for the administration.

e-mail: jzremski@buffnews.com

Originally published by NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF.

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