Dems give up SCHIP fight until the 111th

The Democrats’ yearlong fight to boost federal spending on children’s health insurance ended with a whimper Tuesday.

After coming up short in their efforts to enact a $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) — enduring two presidential vetoes along the way — congressional Democrats signed off on Republican demands to extend the program until 2009.

{mosads}Rather than expiring just before the presidential and congressional elections next year, SCHIP will keep running through March 2009 under the plan originally conceived by House Republicans and hashed out by the Senate Finance Committee and Senate leaders late Monday.

The GOP stood fast against the Democratic bill, which received veto-proof margins in the Senate but came up about a dozen votes shy in the House, despite attracting some GOP support. In doing so, it also stood fast against a multifaceted public relations campaign waged by the Democrats, allied liberal organizations and practically every industry in the healthcare sector. That strategy appears to have paid off, with Democrats abandoning, for now, their plans to ramp up SCHIP.

The GOP claimed victory. “It’s certainly another example of the Democrats caving to the Republican position at the eleventh hour,” said a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Not only did the GOP prevent the Democrats from expanding the program, the minority party prevented the majority party from using an SCHIP vote and veto next fall as a wedge issue just before Election Day.

“Making it January or February or March of 2009 limits the possibility Democrats would use this as an election-year issue to try and create a false sense of urgency to pass inherently bad policy,” Boehner’s spokesman said.

As a result, proponents of expanding SCHIP might have to wait for the next president and the 111th Congress to get a result. This could be risky, since in 2009 SCHIP could well be subsumed by a much larger debate over the future of the U.S. healthcare system if the focus of the presidential candidates on health issues holds steady.

Democrats blamed Republicans for the impasse and insisted they would continue their efforts to move a new SCHIP bill, possibly with the help of a Democratic president in 2009.

House Democrats are not walking away from SCHIP, said a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). For a start, the House will vote on Jan. 23 to attempt to override President Bush’s second SCHIP veto.

Moreover, the enactment of the extension does not mean Congress cannot do more, the spokesman said. “It does not preclude us from bringing up a strong, bipartisan bill,” he said. “The goal here is to cover 10 million children. That’s why discussions will continue. … If there is an opportunity to have a vote on this legislation, absolutely we will have one,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) painted the Republicans as obstructionists on SCHIP and a plethora of other issues. “What we have is the Republicans are digging in their heels for the status quo,” he said.

“We are going to get healthcare for 10 million children done. If it takes a new president, it takes a new president,” a House Democratic leadership aide said. “President Obama or President Clinton could executive-order 10 million children into healthcare,” the aide said, referring to the Democratic senators and leading presidential contenders Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

Republicans who believe they have postponed the next fight over SCHIP until 2009 and that that postponement provides them with political cover will be proved wrong, Pelosi’s spokesman said. States and outside groups will continue to bring pressure on Congress to do more on SCHIP next year, he added.

Likewise, the Democratic leadership aide predicted that voters would remember votes against the larger SCHIP bills next November, regardless of what happens throughout 2008. “That vote is still incredibly important and still incredibly powerful,” the aide said.

The Senate approved the extension Tuesday afternoon by unanimous consent, and the House was expected to offer its approval soon.

The original 10-year authorization for SCHIP expired on Sept. 30; the program has been kept in place via continuing resolutions. The SCHIP bill headed toward passage includes new money intended to prevent states from experiencing budget shortfalls in their SCHIP programs.

The SCHIP language is part of a bill to postpone a scheduled 10 percent cut in Medicare payment rates for physicians. The measure is expected to sail through the Senate and the House and be signed by President Bush.

In announcing the deal with his Republican counterparts, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) expressed a commitment to returning to SCHIP next year. “The [S]CHIP extension in this bill will maintain health coverage for more than 6 million children who currently have it, but I will keep working to reach more low-income, uninsured American children through that vital program,” he said.

Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) maintained that the lengthier SCHIP extension would actually help Congress tackle a larger bill in 2008. “The longer extension of SCHIP will allow Congress to enter the new year with a renewed focus on reauthorization while also providing funding certainty to states,” he said. Grassley has been at the center of the SCHIP and Medicare debate all year, even helping the House Democratic leadership’s efforts to flip House Republicans to their side.

House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas), who originally proposed extending SCHIP into March, also portrayed the extension as an opportunity. “If the House extends SCHIP, the next logical move is to convene a committee hearing and begin an honest, bipartisan exploration of how to improve children’s health insurance,” he said.

But the absence of a hard deadline could alleviate the pressure on lawmakers to return to SCHIP in earnest next year. Republicans in particular would stand to gain little by engaging in a re-run of this year’s political battle over the program with campaign season approaching.