In a move widely telegraphed President Bush has vetoed the re-authorization of SCHIP passed by Congress. While it appears that sufficient votes are at hand for an override in the Senate, the House remains just short of the necessary two thirds. Despite that apparent shortfall Democrats seem poised to try an override anyway, hoping to generate additional Republican support from a grass roots effort and a media campaign targeted at vulnerable Republican Districts. Bush has lost key support from prominent Republicans on this issue. From the Washington Post.
The veto, only the fourth of his presidency, underscored how Bush and Congress have yet to find a way to work effectively together, nine months after Democrats took control. White House aides were quick to criticize Democrats, but even some administration allies on Capitol Hill and K Street said Bush had only himself to blame for not finding common ground on a children’s health program that both sides profess to like.
“Look, I disagree with the [White House] legislative staff on all of this,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a key negotiator on the vetoed bill. “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.”
More Republican criticism, and an Administration response.
Chip Kahn, a former GOP health-care aide on Capitol Hill who heads a trade association for hospitals, said he is “befuddled by the White House approach to this legislation and can’t fathom that there isn’t some compromise that couldn’t satisfy everyone enough to get this bill enacted.”
Administration officials said that the criticism is unfair and that Democrats had not taken into account the president’s concerns. Appearing before a business group in Lancaster, Pa., Bush accused his congressional opponents of trying to “federalize health care.” But he said he is open to negotiations and is willing to include a “little more money” if it is aimed at enrolling more low-income children.
The Presiden’t political isolation seems to rest in part from a desire to have used SCHIP re-authorization to advance a broader, (Republican themed )expansion of health care based on tax credits.
At Grassley’s behest, Leavitt and White House economic adviser Allan Hubbard contacted Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who along with Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) had been pushing a bipartisan measure to provide universal health coverage through private insurers. But in more than 20 phone calls and meetings, Wyden said, the White House was never willing to go beyond Bush’s far more limited health-care tax proposals.
One senior Republican aide, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the White House refused to believe Grassley’s repeated assertions that Wyden was not interested in using SCHIP for a broader new health initiative. “They cut themselves out of the process by insisting that any SCHIP extension be linked to” their broader health agenda, this official said.
Another White House political miscalculation and the re-authorization of a vital health care program for our nation’s children is temporarily derailed. The Republican’s in northern swing districts will pay a heavy political price for this latest political move, and will likely be the source of the necessary Republican override support if it materializes.
Bill Manzi.com 