Getting Chippy
July 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Our dear president tried last week to explain why more kids from working families shouldn’t have health insurance. It’s a tough sell, even to his own party. Bush tried to rationalize his threatened veto of an expansion of the ultra-popular and successful Children’s Health Insurance Program. “I believe government cannot provide affordable health care,” said Bush, according to the Washington Post. “I believe it would cause the quality of care to diminish. I believe there would be lines and rationing over time.”
(Or as fellow Texas Republican — and former state rep. — Arlene Wohlgemuth put it more succinctly several years ago, CHIP is a “socialized medical program.”)
Bush’s arguments that more health care for poor kids is actually a bad thing apparently didn’t go over too well even with the business set, as the Post reports.
The U.S. Senate Finance committee passed a CHIP bill last week on a 17-4 vote. The legislation would reauthorize the program, which Congress must re-up by Sept. 30, and hikes CHIP funding by $35 billion over five years. Bush thinks that’s way too much money to spend on those pesky kids. (of course $35 billion would barely cover three months worth of spending on Iraq and Afghanistan.)
The full Senate is expected to vote on the CHIP bill this week. The roll call may foretell if the Senate has the votes to override a potential presidential veto (an override requires a two-thirds vote). Then the question becomes will a veto-proof majority coalesce in the U.S. House. At this point, that appears unlikely.
July 25th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
[…] Dave Mann’s post yesterday President Bush, attempting to explain his obstinate stand against expanding the successful CHIP […]
September 25th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
[…] course, President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. Bush has been arguing for a week that if Democrats force him to veto CHIP, it won’t […]