Thread: Congress passes kids health bill again

Congress passes kids health bill again By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
9 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - A defiant Democratic-controlled Congress voted Thursday to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children, and President Bush vowed swiftly to cast his second straight veto on the issue.

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The legislation cleared the Senate on a vote of 64-30. It passed the House last week, but supporters were shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush's threatened veto.

"We're convinced that the president has undermined an effort to protect children," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the vote.

"Congress has known for weeks that the President would veto this bill," White House press secretary Dana Perino countered in a statement shortly after the vote. "Now Congress should get back to work on legislation that covers poor children and stop using valuable floor time to make partisan statements."

In a situation of unusual political complexity, Republicans dictated the decision to pass the legislation speedily. It appeared their goal was to short-circuit attempts by supporters of the bill to reach a compromise that could attract enough votes in the House to override Bush's veto.

Attempts by Reid to delay final passage of the bill until next week or longer drew objections from the GOP.

"I believe a deal is within reach," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, a participant in meetings with two senior Senate Republicans, Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah, and several members of the House GOP.

Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., who supported Bush's first veto and is involved in the discussions, said "we are pretty close" to an agreement but that several issues remain. For example, she said, the two sides had narrowed their differences on the issue of insuring maximum coverage of poor children before those in slightly higher-income families can be brought into the program.

Baucus said the negotiations would resume next week.

The veto-threatened measure would add an estimated 4 million beneficiaries to an existing program that provides coverage for children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. The program currently provides benefits to roughly 6 million children.

At a cost of $35 billion, the bill would be paid for through an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent rise on a package of cigarettes.

Bush vetoed an earlier children's health bill this fall, and Republican critics said it failed to give a high enough priority to covering poor children, marked a Democratic attempt to expand government-run health care, and did not take sufficient steps to prevent the children of illegal immigrants from receiving benefits.

Democrats failed to override his veto on a vote of 273-156, 13 short of the two-thirds majority they needed.

In response, Democrats launched a replacement measure, incorporating changes they said were designed to meet Republican objections to their first offering.

But Bush dismissed those efforts this week, telling a business audience, "If Congress sends this bill back to me, I'm going to veto it again." He predicted his second veto would be upheld.

A day earlier, the president told House Republicans in a private meeting that he would veto any measure that raised tobacco or any other taxes, a significant hardening of the administration's public position on the issue.

Political polls show the children's health issue enjoys widespread support, and Democrats and their allies have moved quickly to exploit it for their advantage with television and radio commercials attacking Republicans who opposed the legislation.

The result has been a growing nervousness among House Republicans looking ahead to the 2008 elections. The party's top leaders, Reps. John Boehner of Ohio and Roy Blunt of Missouri, joined the compromise negotiations in recent days.

It is unlikely either of them would support a bill that raises taxes. Rather, officials said their intention was to coax as many concessions as possible from the Democrats so that the next measure would be one that other Republicans among the rank-and-file could comfortably support.

As an example of the unusual political maneuvering on the legislation, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced shortly after the vote that Democrats would not immediately send the measure to the White House.

And Reid said that out of deference to rank-and-file House Republicans who are involved in the talks, he would ask Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to call for an immediate attempt to override a veto.

Whether it succeeded or not, such a vote would only add to the political discomfort of GOP lawmakers who have supported the president so far on the issue, but may eventually part company with him.

As part of the negotiations, House Republicans presented a proposal several days ago that requires a 90-percent signup rate for the poorest eligible children before a state can expand coverage.

According to a description of the proposal made available to The Associated Press, no adults could be covered beginning Oct. 1, 2008, except for pregnant women, although any adults currently receiving benefits could be transferred to Medicaid.

All applicants would be required to stipulate that family assets did not exceed $1 million. Anyone seeking coverage would have to provide a birth certificate as proof of citizenship, a provision designed to bar illegal immigrants from receiving benefits.

The proposal from House Republicans made no mention of the tobacco tax increase.

The legislation that passed the Senate drew the support of 45 Democrats, 17 Republicans and two independents. All 30 votes in opposition were cast by Republicans.

____

Associated Press writer Charles Babington contributed to this story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_ ... n_s_health

I am sooooooooooooo sick of this throwing dart after dart after dart hoping that they will score a bulls eye in the dark

PLEASE GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF THE TAX PAYERS POCKETS... THIS IS ALL POLITICAL ... AND I AM SO SICK IF THIS BULLSH_T PANDERING AND USING MY MONEY TO DO IT

AMEN!

Get the illegales out of the country and jobs will open up for Americans at American wages levels with benefits and we won't need a tax payer funded health insurance program because everyone will have a job that offers it or will have the money to buy their own through Blue Cross or some other good health insurance company.

Bush has threatened to veto this, and they do not have have enough support to override the veto!!

For once Bush's stubburness is paying off. Poor kids are already covered. And if Illegal aliens were not working her bringing down wages the middle clase would not have a problem paying for health care.
I have seen my family go from have no problem paying to now paying but not able to afford the co-payment or decution, there fore do not go the a doctor when they need to go. There have been two incidences this week. Things have gotton so bad that I have had to help buy food out of my ss check. I am mad as hell about illegal immigration. Indirectly it is affecting me in this way. Is affect every American in some way. The problem always come down to illegal immigrants.
Enough is enough.

Americans overwhelmingly support this bill!!! The republicans will pay for this politically for denying health care to children. Every poll shows americans support this bill. Show me a poll that proves otherwise.

The majority of Americans DO NOT support this bill.

1) It gives the states the "choice" whether or not they want proof of citizenship status---------most Americans do not want to pay for the healthcare of children of illegals.

2) "Children" as old as 25 years old can be on this progam.------ Most Americans do not want to pay the healthcare costs of 24-25 year old children-----the cut off should definitely be 18.

3) Those applying can be making as much as $83,000 a year!!--------Most Americans do not want to pay the healthcare costs of families who are not poverty level.

4) There are no safeguards in place to prevent families from dropping their current healthcare coverage for their children------in order to get on the government program paid for by tax payers.

I don't support it because it is help for illegals in disguise.

The "pregnant mother's part" just insures that folks in gerneral keep popping out babies and that illegals will come here and get pregnant to get healthcare.

I chose not to have children because I can't afford it. My healthplan premiums are killing me, and I don't have anything left to use for medicine and the doctor or deductables for procedure.

Why don't they take a look at regulating the Healthcare and Insurance Industry first. Get the Insurance Premiums where middle class can afford it.

If they are going to give free healthcare, they need to give it to everyone or no one. There should be a clause that states no illiegals will qualify for any coverage until legal citizen. It should require proof.

Originally Posted by Bren4824

The majority of Americans DO NOT support this bill.

You have any proof or polls to back that up???? Here is mine

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77603.php

blacknight111 wrote:

You have any proof or polls to back that up???? Here is mine

Check the date on your source. The issue wasn't receiving near the publicity in July as it is now.

Please read this, blacknight:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm1548.cfm