House Fails to Override SCHIP Veto
HOUSE
The Norwalk Hour
Kelly Carroll
Boston University Washington News Service
10/18/2007
WASHINGTON – All five Connecticut members of the House voted Thursday to override President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The effort to override failed, however, 273 to 156, 13 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed.
Democratic leaders are expected to try to revive the legislation before the end of the session.
“I am disappointed the House was unable to override the veto,” said Rep. Chris Shays (R-4th), one of 44 Republicans who voted for the override. “This was a good, bipartisan bill, worthy of passage.”
“Going forward, our primary goal must be to enact legislation that significantly reduces the number of children without health insurance,” he said.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-2nd) said in a teleconference after the vote that the House is going to let the legislation sit for a few weeks to allow more pressure to build, possibly from constituents, on those members who opposed the bill. House Democrats will then reintroduce the bill for consideration sometime before Thanksgiving, he said. Congress has passed an extension of the program until Nov. 16.
Vigorous debate ruled the House floor before the vote Thursday morning, as both sides made their arguments for and against the legislation. Democrats, who have been the main supporters of the program’s expansion, continued to refer to the millions of children who stand to lose public health care, to the chagrin of some Republicans.
“It’s bad enough we are playing politics with this war, we are now playing politics with our kids,” said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas). “Why don’t we sit down and find a solution that’s right for our children?”
This was not the first time Republicans have recommended coming to a compromise over the Democratic legislation. On Sunday, Bush responded to an assertion by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that the President “never talked about a compromise” on the legislation.
“If they need a little more money in the bill to help us meet the objective of getting help for poor children, I’m more than willing to sit down with the leaders and find a way to do so,” Bush said in a statement.
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program was created 10 years ago to insure children in families whose annual income is too high to make them eligible for Medicaid but too low to afford private health care insurance.
In August, Congress voted to reauthorize the program for another five years. The Bush administration later created new requirements for program eligibility, leading both the House and Senate to introduce bills both reauthorizing and expanding the program. These bills met with opposition, mostly from Republicans who said the program was covering children whose parents’ income was well above the federal poverty level. In Connecticut, that income ceiling is 300 percent of the poverty level, or almost $62,000 a year for a family of four.
“It’s crucial that Connecticut retains the ability to cover children up to 300 percent of the poverty level,” said Mary Glassman, director of legislative affairs for the advocacy group Connecticut Voices for Children. “Connecticut residents understand what it takes to keep kids healthy. This is just a temporary setback.”
###
