Last night, the House passed a revised bill to expand and extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)--but without enough votes to override the veto threatened by President Bush. At 265 to 142, the vote was less than the two-thirds necessary to override a veto.
The bill had been amended from its original version, which passed the Senate several weeks ago with a veto-proof vote. But in considering that original bill on Oct. 18, the House fell 13 votes short of the number needed to override Bush’s veto.
To meet some Republican concerns, the bill was amended to clearly end coverage of childless adults, ban coverage of illegal immigrants, and prohibit coverage of children in families with incomes above three times the federal poverty level. However, the bill passed yesterday by the House, like the original bill, would still add $35 billion to SCHIP, providing a total of $60 billion over the next five years.
According to The New York Times, although House Republicans had urged Democrats to delay the vote on the new bill because many of the House members were in California supporting constituents affected by the wildfires, House majority leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the absent lawmakers would not have changed the outcome of the vote.
