Bush to veto child health bill
George Bush is today to veto a bill expanding government-funded health insurance for children as he escalates his battle with the Democratic-controlled Congress.
It was the fourth veto of Mr Bush’s presidency - and one Republicans fear could carry risks for their party in the 2008 round of elections.
The White House said earlier that Mr Bush would carry out the veto behind closed doors, and without any press or television in attendance. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is a joint state-federal effort that subsidises health coverage for 6.6m, mostly children from families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford their own private coverage.
The Democrats who control Congress, with significant support from Republicans, passed the legislation to add $35bn (17.5bn) over five years to allow another 4m children into the program.
It would be funded by raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 (50p) per pack. The president had promised to veto it, saying the Democratic bill was too costly, took the programme too far from its original intent of helping the poor, and would entice people now covered in the private sector to switch to government coverage. He wants only a $5bn ($2.5bn) increase in funding.
Bush argued the plan would be a move towards “socialised medicine” by expanding the programme to higher-income families.
Democrats said their goal is to cover more of the millions of uninsured children and noting that the bill provides financial incentives for states to cover their lowest-income children first.
Of the over 43m in the US who lack health insurance, 9% percent, or over 6m, are under 18. Eighteen Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate, enough to override the presidential veto. But in the House of Representatives, supporters of the bill were just over 20 votes short a successful override.
It was six years before Mr Bush vetoed his first bill, blocking expanded federal research using embryonic stem cells. In May, he vetoed a spending bill that would have required troop withdrawals from Iraq. In June, he vetoed another bill to ease restraints on federally funded stem cell research.
