Senate passes bill for child insurance

Republicans wanted the bill to pass before a
compromise that could lead to an override of Bush’s veto.

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

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.

Baucus said the negotiations would resume next week.

The veto-threatened measure would add an estimated 4 million beneficiaries to a 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.