In a Dec. 12 letter to the House, President Bush vetoed H.R. 3963, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007. “Like its predecessor, H.R. 976,” said the letter, “this bill does not put poor children first and it moves our country’s healthcare system in the wrong direction. Ultimately, our nation’s goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage--not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage.”
The veto was not unexpected; Bush had vetoed similar legislation in October and had threatened to continue fighting the reauthorization bill because it “does not responsibly offset its new and unnecessary spending, and still raises taxes on working Americans.” Like its predecessor, the revised bill would have provided $35 billion in new funding over five years.
In related news, the House voted 385-27 yesterday to pass a continuing resolution funding SCHIP at FY07 levels through Dec. 21, because Congress has not yet passed most bills intended to fund federal programs for FY08, which began Oct. 1. Read the president’s letter.
