DENVER—All three Colorado Republicans in the House of Representatives voted Thursday to uphold President Bush’s veto of a bill to expand a popular children’s health program. The four Colorado Democrats voted to override the president.
The 273-156 vote left supporters of the bill 13 short of the two-thirds majority needed to prevail.
Republicans Doug Lamborn, Tom Tancredo and Marilyn Musgrave all voted to uphold the veto.
Musgrave said she has introduced legislation that offers Congress “a way to move forward.” It would offer coverage to children in families with annual incomes of $41,000 or less.
“I do not want to see the children on this program get dropped,” Musgrave said in a written release.
Her statement did not address her reasons for voting to uphold the veto but said her plan would offer some families a tax credit “rather than putting more people on a government-run program.”
Democrats Diana DeGette, Mark Udall, John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter voted to override the veto.
DeGette criticized Republicans who supported the veto, saying they “failed to stand up for America’s children.”
“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,” she said in a written statement.
Salazar accused Bush and other Republicans of distorting the bill.
“The fact remains: This veto leaves over 100,000 children in Colorado without health care,” he said.
Perlmutter accused Bush of playing politics with children’s health. He said he would work for “a veto-proof proposal to cover as many uninsured kids as possible.”
Udall called it “beyond disappointing.”
“Coming from the same crowd that plunged our federal budget into a sea of red ink with historic deficit speding, their position is morally untenable,” Udall said in a statement.
