Veto-proof majority still elusive

Democrats on Thursday passed a revised version of legislation expanding a children’s health insurance program, but failed to attract enough Republicans to override a veto.

Legislation expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) passed on a 265-142 count, with 43 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. Twenty-six lawmakers, some from California districts who returned home to help communities devastated by wildfires, did not vote.

{mosads}Earlier this month, after Bush vetoed an SCHIP bill expanding the program by $35 billion over the next five years and covering 10 million children, Democrats won 273 votes to override Bush’s veto, falling 13 votes short of their goal.

On Thursday, Bush promised to veto the new bill too, despite the changes. While expressing strong support for the reauthorization of SCHIP “in a way that puts poor people first,” the White House said in a Statement of Administrative Policy that the bill “has not addressed in a meaningful way the objections that caused the president to veto [the previous version] …”

Democrats sought to win over more Republicans by adjusting the vetoed bill to prohibit the use of federal money to cover illegal immigrants and childless adults. They also limited the program to families with income no greater than three times the poverty level.

In what appeared to be a victory for President Bush and House GOP leaders, however, the changes did not seem to win over many Republicans. Democrats did win the vote of Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), one of only two Democrats who voted against the veto override.

However, they also lost Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), an SCHIP supporter who voted to override the veto. He switched his vote because he was upset over the process, a refrain from GOP lawmakers who charged Democrats with rushing the bill to the House floor and capitalizing on the California wildfires. Several GOP lawmakers from Southern California missed the vote to fly home and coordinate the emergency response to the fires.

“Today or Monday at 6:30 p.m. won’t make a difference,” Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said.

Democrats scoffed, arguing that Republicans simply did not want to vote on the bill. Pelosi told reporters that the vote was scheduled for Thursday to pass the legislation by Thanksgiving, including a vote overriding a potential veto.
She also said that Congress could “multitask,” focusing on both wildfires in California and legislation to renew SCHIP. To back up her point, Pelosi referred to a telephone conversation on Tuesday with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), whom Pelosi said asked her about the status of the SCHIP legislation even as he directed his state’s emergency response operations.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he did not regret putting the bill on the floor, adding that he had “no idea” what changes needed to be made to the bill to capture more GOP votes. “They didn’t take yes for an answer,” he quipped.

From a political standpoint, Democratic aides argued that waiting to vote on the new bill would have given Bush the weekend, when Congress was not in session, to attack the measure and persuade Republicans to hold the line.

The Senate will take up the bill next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters on Thursday.

Despite the rancor, Democrats lavished praise on Republicans, specifically GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa), who had criticized the president’s veto and carried the original SCHIP bill through the Senate in 1997.

“Without Republicans we would not have SCHIP,” Pelosi said on the House floor.

Democratic leaders specifically focused on convincing 38 Republicans, who indicated in a letter sent last week to President Bush that they were open to compromise if certain changes were made to the bill Bush vetoed.

Under the watchful eye of Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and GOP Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (Fla.), 20 Republicans left a meeting with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) unconvinced.

“It’s a bad bill,” Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.) said. “It’s interesting that they wanted to sit down with us now. If they really wanted votes, they would have sat down with us before.”

Another Republican lawmaker called the meeting “hilarious.”

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said, “I thought it was an insincere attempt at inclusion.”

During the debate, which lasted all afternoon, Democrats championed “the children” in speech after speech on the House floor. Republicans were frustrated by accusations that they were against children; Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) added a dose of sarcasm and a touch of humor to the debate.

“Republicans do like kids, and not just medium-rare with a side of fries,” he said.     

Meanwhile, lawmakers were itching to go home. Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) planned to drive home because inclement weather would delay or cancel flights to Charleston.

Klaus Marre contributed to this story.