Democrats fail to beat Bush veto

[frigidmagi]

BBC

The Democratic-led US House of Representatives has failed in a bid to overturn a presidential veto on an expanded child health insurance plan.

The House voted 273 to 156 in favour of the bill, short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

The vetoed bill proposed higher tobacco taxes to provide an extra $35bn (£17bn) to insure some 10 million children.

Mr Bush argued it took the programme beyond its original purpose of insuring children from low-income families.

The State Children's Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP) currently subsidises health care for some 6.6 million people, most of them children.

It is directed at families who earn too much to qualify for the Medicaid programme for the poor but cannot afford private health insurance cover.

Democrats 'hopeful'

Although Thursday's vote in the House was close, House Democrats failed to persuade enough of their Republican counterparts to back the bill for the veto to be overturned.

Eighteen Republican senators joined Democrats earlier this month in passing the bipartisan legislation by a 67-29 vote.

Mr Bush said he had used his veto - only the fourth of his presidency - to ensure he had a hand in shaping the bill.

"Sometimes the legislative branch wants to go on without the president, pass pieces of legislation and the president can then use the veto to make sure he's a part of the process," he said.

Cigarette tax

Mr Bush has assigned three top advisers, including Mike Leavitt, the US health and human services secretary, to try to negotiate a new deal with Congress.

He has said he would be willing to approve a $5bn increase, bringing total spending over five years to $30bn.

He argues that expanding its coverage further would encourage people currently covered in the private sector to switch to government coverage - and that the proposal is too costly.

Supporters of the bill say the proposed $35bn expansion, paid for by increasing federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 a pack, would help give health coverage to an additional four million children.

Mr Bush has previously used his veto twice to block legislation that would have eased restrictions on federally funded stem-cell research and once to halt a bill linking war funding to a timetable for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.

You are sooo going down in history as a jackass.

[SirNitram]

While a number of Democrats switched their votes to support it, not a single GOP vote changed. Loyalty to Mr. 25%(Zogby) is more important than anything else.