Bush indicates some openness on SCHIP expansion

President Bush told the nation Saturday that he is willing to spend more money to provide health care coverage for children, but continued to criticize Congress’s plan for the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) as “deeply flawed.”

{mosads}“If putting poor children first takes a little more than the 20 percent increase I have proposed in my budget for SCHIP, I am willing to work with leaders in Congress to find the additional money,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.

But Democrats, hopeful that they can get the votes to override Bush’s veto of their SCHIP expansion legislation, used their weekly address to urge people to pressure their representatives to support the bill.

Bush on Wednesday vetoed the $35 billion-plan to extend SCHIP to 10 million children. His decision came despite warnings from Democrats and pleas from some Republican lawmakers, who wish Bush was taking a less politically dangerous position. The popular legislation had passed both chambers of Congress with solid bipartisan majorities.

“Today, the only thing standing between millions of American children and the health insurance they need and deserve is one person,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said. “The President is saying ‘no’ to these children he promised to help.”

Bush fleshed out his objections that the program is insuring too many adults and that it is a step toward government-controlled health insurance.

He said six states – Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Rhode Island, and New Mexico – are projecting that they will cover more adults than children in this fiscal year. The White House also issued a fact sheet to back up the claim that the Democrats’ plan will cover children with family incomes as high as $83,000, detailing the state of New York’s waiver to cover families at that income level.

The president also stated that under Congress’s plan, one out of every three children who moves onto SCHIP coverage will drop private insurance. In addition, he characterized the 61-cent-a-pack cigarette tax that funds the bill as a tax on “working people.”

Bush noted that he had asked Congress to work with him to develop a plan more acceptable to him. However, the White House has indicated that congressional Democrats are more worried about seeking to score political points on SCHIP than finding a compromise.

Hoyer, however, sought to dismiss the White House talking points on the issue, saying that the plan would not lead to a “government takeover” of insurance, noting that the bill is supported by lobbying groups for private insurance companies. He also argued that the bill is fully paid for, though he did not mention the cigarette tax.

“The claims made against this bill are simply wrong,” Hoyer said.

The House has scheduled its vote on a veto override for Oct. 18, giving leaders two weeks to find the 15 Republican votes they say they need to win the two-thirds majority necessary. The Senate passed the bill with a veto-proof majority.