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By Klaus Marre
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Posted: 10/18/07 12:21 PM [ET] |
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The House failed Thursday to override President Bush’s veto of legislation that would have expanded the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). For the past two weeks, Democratic leaders had hoped that they would be able to convince enough Republicans to reach the 289-vote threshold needed to override the veto. However, the Democrats fell short when the GOP opposition to the bill did not crack. While SCHIP is a widely popular program and the legislation attracted bipartisan support, enough fiscal conservatives balked at the additional $35 billion dollars that the expansion would have cost. In addition, many Republicans, including President Bush, worried the bill would have been a step in the direction of government-controlled health insurance. Democrats, on the other hand, in the hope of at least scoring political points, drew the comparison of the cost of the bill to the amount of money Republicans and the White House are spending on the war in Iraq. |
