Senators pass kids' health care legislation

2007-09-28

Source: Associated Press

Congress approved legislation Thursday that would potentially add 4 million children to a popular health care program, setting up a veto fight that President Bush probably will win but handing Democrats a campaign issue for next year's elections.

Eighteen Republicans in the Senate lined up with Democrats in voting 67-29 to increase spending on the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, from about $5 billion to $12 billion annually for the next five years.

The vote was enough to override a promised Bush veto. But supporters in the House, which passed the bill Tuesday, are about two dozen votes shy of an override. Both chambers would have to muster two-thirds majorities to win a veto showdown.

Overall, spending for SCHIP would increase to $60 billion over five years in the unlikely prospect the bill becomes law — double what President Bush recommended. Analysts projected the legislation would allow about 4 million of the estimated 9 million uninsured children in the United States to gain coverage.

After the vote, supporters of the bill said they believed it would be in the president's best interest politically to sign the bill.

"The polls on this are overwhelming," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., a principal author of the bill.

"It's time for President Bush to put politics aside and think about our kids," Baucus said in a news release.

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