Senate panel OKs SCHIP funding bill; Bush threatens to veto it

The measure would boost program funding by $35 billion, enough to cover an additional 3.3 million children.

By Doug Trapp, AMNews staff. Aug. 6, 2007.

Washington -- Add the State Children's Health Insurance Program to the list of issues on which Congress and President Bush fundamentally disagree.

On July 17, Bush promised to veto a bipartisan Senate SCHIP reauthorization bill to increase the program's five-year funding by $35 billion, from $25 billion to $60 billion. The measure, approved 17-4 by the Senate Finance Committee on July 19, with six Republicans voting in favor, would allow another 3.3 million uninsured children to gain coverage. SCHIP now covers 6 million children.

The veto threat cast a shadow over the Senate bill, a compromise carefully negotiated over several weeks. The measure backed away from the $50 billion boost, for total five-year funding of $75 billion, approved by House and Senate lawmakers May 7 in their budget resolution.

House leaders were expected to stick with the $50 billion funding increase in their SCHIP reauthorization legislation, said a House Energy and Commerce Committee aide. At press time, that measure was scheduled for a committee vote on July 25.

Bush said he views the Senate bill as an attempt to federalize health care. He also objected to lawmakers' plan to raise the extra $35 billion by increasing the national cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1. "If Congress continues to insist upon expanding health care through the SCHIP program -- which, by the way, would entail a huge tax increase for the American people -- I'll veto the bill," Bush said.