Senate defies Bush, approves children's health care bill

Now the lawmakers are trying once again to push through renewal of the highly popular program. But Bush says he will veto it, complaining that the lawmakers are “wasting time.”

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) retorted, “Only this president could consider it ‘wasting time’ to pursue a bill that provides health coverage for 10 million children.” Bush, he added, “holds out one hand asking for $200 billion for Iraq this year, as he uses the other hand to veto these investments in our families.”

As approved by the Senate, the measure would continue protection of the 6.6 million children now enrolled and add another 4 million youngsters. SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, currently costs $25 billion each year. The expansion would cost an additional $35 billion over the next five years.

Bush complains that it is too much. But a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service warns that 21 states will exhaust their SCHIP funds by next March and be forced to drop millions of children now protected.