WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House failed Thursday to override President Bush’s veto of a politically popular children’s health bill, and the White House instantly called for compromise talks on a replacement.
“As long as the bottom line is that 10 million children are covered. That’s non-negotiable,” responded Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She pledged that new legislation would be ready within two weeks.
Colorado’s delegation voted along party lines, with Democrats supporting the override and Republicans backing the president.
After the 273-156 vote, which was 13 short of the two-thirds needed, two Colorado congresswomen offered competing visions on how to break the impasse.
Rep. Diana DeGette, who helped lead House Democrats in passing the legislation expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, reiterated Pelosi’s 10-million- covered stance. “We’re not going to negotiate on the number of kids who get coverage,” said DeGette, a Denver Democrat, adding that the vetoed bill already was a compromise.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Fort Morgan Republican, said she agreed that uninsured children should be covered but not entirely through a government program. She introduced legislation that she said would increase coverage by providing a $1,400 tax credit to families with incomes between 200 percent and 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
Her bill also would reauthorize SCHIP to cover children in families with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty level, or $41,300, essentially what is provided currently. The proposal has the support of 40 Republicans. “I do not want to see the children on this program get dropped,” Musgrave said.
DeGette called the idea of relying on tax credits to expand coverage to low-income children a “non-starter.”
At a cost of $35 billion over five years, the vetoed measure would have added nearly 4 million uninsured children to the insurance program. It provides coverage for those who are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but whose families cannot afford private health care.
In Colorado, the bill would have insured more than 50,000 additional kids and increased funding by about $13 million, according to the Colorado SCHIP Coalition.
Critics said the bill was a step toward socialized medicine, that too many adults benefited and that despite an explicit prohibition, it would allow the children of illegal immigrants to gain coverage.
While 44 Republicans joined with 229 Democrats in voting to override, none had opposed the bill when it originally cleared the House last month. Two Democrats and 154 Republicans voted to sustain Bush’s action.
Democratic officials were looking at possible changes in at least two areas. One would attempt to address the GOP claim that illegal immigrants could obtain coverage, while also assuring that the eligible children without birth certificates are not turned away. A second was aimed at negating what the Democratic officials said was an inaccurate charge by Republicans that children in some families making over $80,000 would qualify for coverage.
The SCHIP program is operating under a temporary extension through mid-November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
What Colorado’s delegation said
Rep. Diana DeGette, D
“We in Congress should hang our heads in shame if the wealthiest country in the world refuses to provide basic health care to the children of our land.”
Rep. Doug Lamborn, R
“I feel that an SCHIP bill should put poverty-stricken children first. However, that simply is not the case with this piece of legislation.”
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R
“My priority is to ensure the children in Colorado enrolled in SCHIP continue receiving their medical coverage and the program is funded in a responsible manner.”
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D
“As we saw with the vote on stem- cell research, the president and many Republicans reject the will of the majority of Americans and the hopes and promise that basic health care services can provide to our children.”
Rep. John Salazar, D
“The fact remains: This veto leaves over 100,000 children in Colorado without health care. In five years this president has spent $700 billion on this war in Iraq but refuses to spend $35 billion over five years for our children. It’s disgraceful.”
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R
“Sustaining the SCHIP veto was a major success for the Republicans. Today’s vote sent a clear message that expanding the nanny state and raising taxes is completely unacceptable.”
Rep. Mark Udall, D
“It is … beyond disappointing that the president and a narrow majority in his party ‘value’ shoring up their fiscal discipline bona fides at the expense of the children of working families in this country.”
