Bush vetoes children’s Health Bill a second time
US President George W. Bush on Wednesday vetoed a bill expanding a
popular children’s health care programme for the second time, angering
Democrats who are locked in a fight with the administration over the
budget and spending.
Pushed by the Democratic-led Congress but also supported by many
Republicans, the bill was aimed at providing health insurance to about
10 million children in low- and moderate-income families.
Taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products would have been
increased to pay for the aid. Bush vetoed a version of the bill in
October but Congress quickly passed another one that included some
changes but not enough to satisfy the White House.
“Because the Congress has chosen to send me an essentially identical
bill that has the same problems as the flawed bill I previously vetoed,
I must veto this legislation too,” Bush wrote in a message to the House
of Representatives.
The fight between Congress and the White House over the health bill
is one in a series of clashes over spending that have arisen as Bush
approaches the start of his final year in office.
Bush has said the funding level sought by the Democrats for the
health program would have expanded it beyond its original intent of
covering poor children and marked a step toward government-run health
care.
Democrats say the additional money is needed to help families who
cannot afford to buy private health insurance but who earn too much to
qualify for the Medicaid health care program for the poor.
“This is indeed a sad action for him to take, because so many
children in our country need access to quality health care,” House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters.
In vetoing the legislation, Bush said “this bill does not put poor
children first and it moves our country’s health care system in the
wrong direction.”
The bill would have provided $60 billion in funding for the State
Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) over five years, compared
with the current $25 billion five-year funding level.
Proponents argued that the $5 billion increase that Bush proposed in
his budget was not enough to continue coverage for the more than 6
million children now enrolled in the program.
Democratic leaders said they plan a temporary funding bill to ensure
that those children keep their coverage through the fiscal year that
ends Sept. 30. In the meantime, Pelosi said Democrats would keep pushing
for a broader bill that would cover at least 10 million children.
Washington, Thursday, Reuters |
