Baucus dares Bush to veto SCHIP expansion
2007-08-05
Source: Billings Gazette
Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus challenged President Bush on Saturday to make good on his promise and veto Baucus' bill that would expand government health insurance for poor and middle income children.
email this
print this
del.icio.us
digg this
rss feed"I dare him," Baucus said in a lunchtime speech at the 2007 Montana Democratic Party's officers convention here. "We're going to help kids."
Baucus sponsored a bill that passed the U.S. Senate late Thursday by a veto-proof 68-31 vote. It would spend $35 billion in federal money to add another 3.3 million kids to the State Children Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. In Montana, Baucus said, the extra money would add more than 12,000 low- and middle-income children to the program.
CHIP is paid for with state and federal money and provides health insurance for children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, but who also cannot afford private health insurance.
Bush has pledged to veto Baucus' bill.
Lawmakers need the votes of two-thirds of the members of both the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. The Senate needed 67 votes for Baucus' bill to survive Bush's veto pen and got 68. The fate of the bill is less clear in the House.
Baucus also told fellow Democrats that the country must move toward some kind of health insurance program for all Americans.
In an interview after his speech, Baucus said he thought such a program could come about in the next two or three years but that he didn't think it would be single-payer government health insurance program, which many European countries and Canada have. Baucus said he thought the solution would be "uniquely American" and be a combination of government and private industry.
"We need to take this one step at a time," he said. Expanding CHIP, he said, "is one big step."
Baucus also said Congress could do more to control the cost of health care and help small businesses offer health insurance to their employees.
