Why Bush resists child health bill

House Democrats say they need only 15 more Republican votes to have a veto-proof majority.

from the October 1, 2007 edition

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For Democrats, the crucial statistic is the number of children to be covered under the new law. "We hope the president will change his mind," says Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "So far, we're short of votes" for an override. But if we come back with another bill, "there are some things we will not compromise, and that's the number of kids: 10 million," he adds.

Democrats and child advocacy groups say that Republicans who back the president in opposing an override of a veto on S-CHIP will face the wrath of voters in the next election. They cite a recent poll by the Republican polling firm Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates that found that GOP voters support extending and strengthening the S-CHIP program by a 2-to-1 margin. GOP voters also said, by a 4-to-3 margin, that they were less likely to vote to reelect members of Congress if they oppose the bill.

"Republican voters want Congress and the president to deliver a strong children's health bill, and they are saying they will hold accountable politicians who stand in the way," said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, a child-advocacy group in Washington, in a statement.

LAST week, the House and Senate passed a compromise version of the bill that increases funding for the S-CHIP program by $35 billion above existing levels, for a total of $60 billion over the next five years. The bill passed the Senate by a veto-proof 67-to-29 vote. It passed the House by a vote of 265 to 159, short of the 290 needed to override a veto if all 435 House members are present and voting.

But Senate Democrats say they do not expect that Congress will need to compromise with the Bush administration over the level of funding or the terms of eligibility. "It won't be necessary, because there are 25 votes in the House that are potentially getable," says Sen. John Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia, who helped draft the first S-CHIP bill 10 years ago.

House GOP leaders say they are confident of the votes they need to defeat an override of a Bush veto. Rep. Zack Wamp (R) of Tennessee, who has broken with Republican leaders and the White House on issues such as campaign finance in the past, says he's been swamped with requests that he change his "no" vote on S-CHIP. Both US senators from Tennessee supported the bill.

But Representative Wamp says he has no intention of switching his position. "It's a crummy bill that isn't honest as to how it's paid for," he says, citing a budget assumption in the pending legislation that demand for the S-CHIP program will drop sharply in 2013. "There's a trend toward bigger government, and we have to hold the line," he says. "It's going to be a tough vote, but we would not have walked the plank if we weren't sure the president would veto the bill."

Republicans who back Bush are still looking for a concise answer to the issue raised by 12-year-old Graeme Frost. "I don't know why President Bush wants to stop kids who really need help from getting CHIP," Graeme said in the Democratic radio address Saturday. He told listeners that S-CHIP funding helped him recover from a "really bad car accident."

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