Wednesday, December 12 2007
President George W. Bush on December 12th vetoed for the second time legislation aimed at expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $35 billion over five years exclusively funded by increases in the Federal excise tax rates on tobacco products, saying "our nation's goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage, not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage."
The revised measure secured a veto-proof margin only in the Democrat-controlled Senate, while House Republicans held enough of their members together to sustain a presidential veto. With only a few days left in the congressional session, it is not clear if Congress would schedule a veto override vote, which is expected to almost certainly fail.
At this time, it is not necessary to contact your congressmen urging opposition to the veto override. Congress will most likely pass another extension of the current SCHIP program to continue funding into the first months of 2008.
- Chris McCalla, IPCPR Legislative Director
(For more information and legislative updates please visit www.IPCPR.com)
