Democrats' SCHIP Veto Override Not Likely

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And I'm Deborah Amos.

Today we'll witness a little political theater, which may be instructive, even though we may already know how it ends. The House tries to override a presidential veto. The president rejected a plan to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, also known as SCHIP.

To override the president, House leaders would need a two-thirds majority, and it appears they don't have it. But it's still worth listening to the final round of arguments. The reason is that both sides may be positioning themselves for an issue they'll face in next year's election.

NPR's Julie Rovner has been sampling the debate as it stands now.

JULIE ROVNER: President Bush came out firing at his news conference yesterday about the SCHIP bill that's the subject of today's House override vote.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: One way the executive branch stays a part of the process is to issue veto threats and then follow through with them. And so that's what you're going to see tomorrow, is whether or not the Congress will sustain my veto on a bill that I said I would veto and explain why I'm vetoing it.

ROVNER: But backers of the bill in Congress say the president is misrepresenting the measure, particularly on claims like this.

Pres. BUSH: To increase the eligibility up to 83,000, in my judgment, is an attempt by some in Congress to expand the reach of the federal government in medicine.

ROVNER: That's simply not the case, says House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel.

Representative CHARLES RANGEL (Democrat, New York): When the president charges that this is the road to socialized medicine, he probably forgot that the eligibility of the bill has not been changed.

ROVNER: Officials in New York, Rangel's home state, did ask to raise eligibility to cover children and families with incomes as high as $83,000 for a family of four, but they were turned down by the Bush administration. And New York could be turned down again under the bill, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.

Senator MAX BAUCUS (Democrat, Montana): The main thing is, it's up to the president whether he wants to approve higher eligibility or not. That's his choice.

ROVNER: The president also argued that the bill doesn't focus enough on lower income children.

Pres. BUSH: And I look forward to working with the Congress if my veto is upheld to focus on those who are supposed to be covered. That's what we need to get done.

ROVNER: But backers like West Virginia Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller say that's not fair. In fact, while the administration has been focusing its complaints about the measure on the higher income families, they represent only a tiny fraction of the six million children currently covered.

Senator JAY ROCKEFELLER (Democrat, West Virginia): Some argued 91, some argue 92 percent of all of the children who will be covered will be from families that have less than 200 percent of poverty in terms of their income.

ROVNER: Or about $41,000 for a family of four. Through all the charges and counter-charges, no House Republican has yet announced he or she will change a no-vote on the bill to a yes-vote to override the president's veto. Most of the eight Democrats who voted against the bill have said they'll switch, however. Yesterday it was Kathy Castor, a Florida freshman.

Representative KATHY CASTOR (Democrat, Florida): What it comes down to tomorrow is whose side are we going to be on, and I'm going to be on the side of America's families and America's children.

ROVNER: Castor said she voted against the bill because it didn't go far enough to help uninsured children get coverage. But her vote may also have had something to do with the fact that the measure is funded by a substantial tobacco tax increase, and she represents America's cigar city, also known as Tampa.

Even with nearly all of the Democrats back in the fold, however, as well as the 45 Republicans who were already on board, the vote tally still looks short of the two-thirds required for an override.

President Bush also announced at his news conference he's appointed his three top health and economic advisors to start negotiating with Congress on a compromise SCHIP bill, assuming that the override attempt fails.

Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.

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