House Republican Leaders Say They Have Votes To Sustain President Bush's Veto Of SCHIP Legislation | In NewRetirement's Questions & Answers Forum

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House Republican Leaders Say They Have Votes To Sustain President Bush's Veto Of SCHIP Legislation
Republican leaders say they are confident President Bush's veto of legislation that would have reauthorized and expanded SCHIP will be sustained, and House Democratic leaders on Sunday said they will pass another version of SCHIP legislation if the House fails to override the veto, the Los Angeles Times reports (Hook, Los Angeles Times, 10/15). Bush earlier this month vetoed the SCHIP compromise measure, which would have provided an additional $35 billion in funding over the next five years and increased total SCHIP spending to $60 billion. The additional funding would have been paid for by a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the tobacco tax. An override vote in the House is scheduled for Thursday (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/12). House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on "Fox News Sunday" that SCHIP is "not going to die." If the House fails to override the veto, Congress is "going to go back, and we're going to pass another bill," Hoyer said (Lengell, Washington Times, 10/15). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday also spoke about SCHIP on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," saying, "We'll try very hard to override" the veto, but "one thing's for sure: We won't rest until those 10 million children have health care" (Washington Times, 10/15). Pelosi did not offer details on how a new bill would differ from the vetoed compromise measure, but criticized Bush for being unwilling to negotiate a solution (Los Angeles Times, 10/15). Democrats will "talk to the president at the right time, when he makes an overture to do so, but not an overture that says, 'This is the only thing I'm going to sign,'" Pelosi said (Yen, AP/Long Island Newsday, 10/14). Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in the Democrats' weekly radio address said, "Every Republican must decide whether they will stand with the president and his veto, or stand with our children and their right to a healthy future" (Jalonick, AP/Long Island Newsday, 10/13). Republican Response White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said that Bush has said he is "willing to work with members of both parties from both houses" on SCHIP. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on "Fox News Sunday" said that he hopes Democrats negotiate with Republicans after the veto override fails so that the program can be reauthorized. Boehner said, "We will have the votes to sustain the president's veto," adding that Republicans are "standing on our principle that poor kids ought to come first" (AP/Long Island Newsday, 10/14). Boehner said Republicans are open to compromise (Russell Chaddock, Christian Science Monitor, 10/15). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday on "This Week" said that he doubted that the SCHIP debate would have any negative effects on Republicans' election campaigns. McConnell said, "This is going to be like a pebble in the ocean, a short-term controversy, a big partisan struggle, and then it's going to be over" (Washington Times, 10/15). Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) criticized Democrats for delaying the override vote, saying, "I would have much rather spent the time working to come up with a bill which is financially sound and guarantees poor American children are the first in line to receive benefits." He added, "By the time we vote ... we will have wasted two important weeks and have less than a month to come up with a plan" (Hay Brown/Nitkin, Baltimore Sun, 10/15). Final Days In the days remaining before Thursday's override vote, Democrats and other SCHIP supporters "are hitting the airwaves, staging rallies and making a blizzard of phone calls as they try to pressure Republican House members" to support the measure, the New York Times reports. The "intensity" of lobbying efforts "underscores the Democrats' growing confidence that some Republicans could be imperiling their re-election prospects next year by choosing to back" Bush, according to t
	asked by grandpa24551, 10/17/2007
Categories: Health Insurance

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