Thursday, October 04, 2007 Capitol
Hill Watch
Democratic Leaders Schedule SCHIP Legislation Vote
For Oct. 18 in Hopes of Overriding President Bush's Veto
The House on Wednesday won a procedural
vote that allowed them to postpone until Oct. 18 a vote to override a veto
of legislation that would reauthorize and expand SCHIP, CQ
Today reports. President Bush vetoed the bill on Wednesday.
According to CQ Today, the delay is intended to give
Democrats and bill supporters time to "make a 'no' vote as politically
unpalatable as possible for Republicans" (Wayne, CQ Today,
10/3).
The compromise bill would have provided an additional $35
billion in funding over the next five years and brought total spending on
the program to $60 billion. The additional funding would have been paid
for by a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the tobacco tax. The House last week
voted 265-159 to approve the measure, with 45 Republicans voting in favor
and eight Democrats voting against the bill. The Senate on Thursday voted
67-29 to approve the legislation, with 18 of the 49 Senate Republicans
voting in favor. The program expired on Sunday (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/3).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that the two-week delay
will allow time for Democrats and outside groups to pressure Republicans
that voted against the bill (Coile, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/4). However,
Republican House leaders said they are confident they will be able to
sustain the veto (Lueck, Wall Street Journal, 10/4).
Override Prospects
Democrats said they have received
commitments from two more lawmakers to vote to override Bush's veto: Rep.
Bobby Jindal (R-La.), who missed the initial vote, and Rep. Dan Boren
(D-Okla.), who opposed the bill (Gay Stolberg/Hulse, New York Times, 10/4). Boren said he would
vote to override the veto after spending last weekend in his district,
which includes rural, low-income communities (Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 10/4).
Other
Republican lawmakers targeted to vote for the override include Reps.
Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) and Judy Biggert (R-Ill.),
according to USA Today (Jackson/Kiely, USA
Today, 10/4). In addition, Democrats are "prodding 11 of their own"
who either voted against the bill or missed the vote, according to McClatchy/Philadelphia Inquirer. Democrats
need 25 more votes in favor of the bill to override Bush's veto
(Pugh/Tavel, McClatchy/Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/4).
However, 147 House Republicans have signed a pledge that they will
vote to sustain a presidential veto on any spending bill. According to the
Christian Science Monitor, if "those promises
hold, that would be enough to prevent" a veto override for the SCHIP bill
(Russell Chaddock, Christian Science Monitor, 10/4).
Rank-and-file Democrats "aren't optimistic" that they will be able to
override Bush's veto, according to CQ Today. Rep. Allyson
Schwartz (D-Pa.) said, "We're certainly trying hard to override it, and we
hope that we can, but it's certainly not likely" (CQ Today,
10/3).
However, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said that the longer Democrats try "to maximize
their political advantage" by delaying the override vote, the easier it
will be for Republicans to convince the public that Democrats are unable
to lead (Wegner, CongressDaily, 10/3). House Minority Whip
Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said that the delay tactics will backfire, adding, "The
more days this is out there, the more comfortable (Republicans) get with
their position. They're getting plenty of time to explain what they are
for and what's wrong with the bill" (CQ Today, 10/3).
Next Steps
It "remains unclear" how Democrats will proceed
with the legislation if they are unable to override the veto, as well as
if "other viable legislative vehicles could be hashed out,"
CongressDaily reports (Koffler/Bourge,
CongressDaily, 10/3). Democrats said that they will re-pass
the bill with minor changes and send it back to Bush (Los Angeles
Times, 10/4). The Senate, which has enough votes to override the
veto, will not act on the bill until the House votes (Canham, Salt Lake
Tribune, 10/4). Democratic leadership is debating how many
times they can hold a floor vote on the bill, according to Senate and
House sources. Some Democrats say that a one-year extension of the program
would allow Congress to re-pass the bill under a potentially Democratic
president (Koffler/Bourge, CongressDaily, 10/3).
Bush Response
Bush on Wednesday, after vetoing the bill,
traveled to West Hempfield Township, Pa., "to make his case for the veto
directly to the American people," the New York Times reports.
Bush spoke via a nationally televised chat with a Republican audience
composed of members of a local Chamber of Commerce group (New York
Times, 10/4). Bush said, "I do want Republicans and Democrats to
come together to support a bill that focuses on the poor children." He
said that he is "more willing to work with members of both parties from
both houses," adding, "If they need a little more money in the bill to
help us get the objective of getting help for poor children, (I'm) more
than willing to sit down with the leaders and find a way to do so"
(Pulizzi, Dow Jones, 10/3).
Bush criticized the
compromise bill, saying that he believes in putting "[p]oor kids first"
and "in private medicine, not the federal government running the health
care system" (Espo, AP/Houston Chronicle, 10/4). Bush said, "The
policies of the government ought to be to help poor children and to focus
on poor children, and the policies of the government ought to be to help
people find private insurance, not federal coverage," noting that "that's
where the philosophical divide comes in" (Issenberg/Milligan, Boston Globe, 10/4).
The bill "would
move health care in this country in the wrong direction" and "would result
in taking a program meant to help poor children and turning it into one
that covers children in households with incomes of up to $83,000 a year,"
Bush said, adding, "If this bill were enacted, one out of every three
children moving onto government coverage would be moving from private
coverage."
Separately, White House spokesperson Dana Perino on
Wednesday at a press event said that Democrats "only sent a bill that they
knew the president couldn't sign and then used a lot of different ways to
demagogue the issue against the president" (Ward, Washington Times, 10/4).
Republican Split
Critics of Bush say "he chose the wrong
place to draw the line on spending and a federal role in health care," and
"some of his most vocal critics are fellow Republicans," according to the
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco
Chronicle, 10/4). Bush's decision to veto SCHIP "baffles" and
"angers" some Republicans who believes that the administration "should
have picked a less sympathetic program for an all-out fight with
Democrats," according to the AP/Atlanta-Journal Constitution. In
addition, "[d]rawing the line on spending on the SCHIP bill, while the
Iraq war rages on, is a matter of too little, too late, with too little
explanation to voters," according to Republicans who oppose the veto, the
AP/Journal-Constitution reports.
However, Rep. Tom
Feeney (R-Fla.) said that Bush's veto "is an opportunity in the next few
months for the Republicans to regain their brand." Feeney added, "We can't
win elections nationally if more Americans think Democrats are more
fiscally responsible than Republicans" (Babington, AP/Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, 10/4).
Leadership Comments
House Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm
Emanuel (D-Ill.) in a statement said, "Today, the president showed the
nation his true priorities: $700 billion for a war in Iraq, but no health
care for low-income kids; $50 billion in subsidies for huge oil companies,
but no health care for low-income kids; $8 billion lost to waste, fraud,
abuse, and no-bid contracts in Iraq, but no health care for low-income
kids; and billions for schools and roads and clinics in Iraq, but no
health care for low-income kids in America" (Pulizzi, Dow
Jones, 10/3).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
said, "Congress will fight hard to override President Bush's heartless
veto" (Espo, AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 10/4). Reid continued,
"Never has it been clearer how detached President Bush is from the
priorities of the American people," adding, "By vetoing a bipartisan bill
to renew the successful [SCHIP], President Bush is denying health care to
millions of low-income kids in America" (Loven, AP/New York Post, 10/4).
House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the veto showed "a stunning lack
of compassion for some of the most vulnerable members of our society"
(Washington Times, 10/4).
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah),
a key negotiator for the compromise bill, said, "Frankly, I think the
president has had pretty poor advice on this. I can answer every objection
that they've made, and I'm very favorable to the president. I know he's
compassionate. I know he's concerned about these kids, but he's been sold
a bill of goods" (Abramowitz/Weisman, Washington Post, 10/4).
House
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, "Democrats now face an
important choice: Either work with Republicans to renew this program or
continue to play politics on the backs of our nation's children"
(AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 10/4).
2008 Presidential Candidates' Comments
Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said that the veto proves that "these children
are invisible to this president" (Washington Times, 10/4).
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said that the veto reflects "a
callousness of priorities that is offensive to the ideals we hold as
Americans" (McClatchy/Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/4).
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) called the veto unconscionable
(AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 10/4). Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) said that Bush made "the right call" in vetoing the
bill, adding, "The American people have rebelled against out-of-control
spending. If they can find a legitimate way to pay for [SCHIP], I would
consider it," but "what was supposed to be for low-income Americans is now
up to 400% of the poverty level" (Washington Times, 10/4).
McCain called the cigarette tax increase "a phony smoke-and-mirrors way of
paying for" SCHIP (Silva, Chicago Tribune, 10/4).