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The New York Times
Bush Threatens Veto
of Child Health Bill
By SHERYL GAY
STOLBERG, nytimes.com on the Web, September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 —
President Bush, bracing for a series of battles with Congress over spending,
threatened on Thursday to veto a bill expanding a popular children’s health
insurance program, calling it “a step toward federalization of health care.”
The program expires Sept. 30, and Congress is on the verge of renewing it by
providing coverage to an additional 4 million children over the 6.6 million
already enrolled — at an additional cost of $35 billion over five years.
Mr. Bush says the bill would expand a program aimed at helping the poor beyond
its original intent.
The veto threat is just one of nearly a dozen the White House has issued
recently aimed at a variety of bills including measures on education spending
and financing for medical research. With the fiscal year ending Sept. 30,
Mr. Bush and Congressional Democrats are headed for a showdown over spending
similar to the one that preceded the government shutdown of 1995.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have yet to complete action on any of their 12 major
spending bills. But even if they do, Mr. Bush will not sign them; he has
issued veto threats on 10 of the 11 appropriations measures passed so far by the
House.
At his news conference on Thursday, Mr. Bush sought to get out ahead of the
Democrats by painting them as big spenders and himself as a responsible steward
of taxpayers’ money. He urged Democrats to pass a temporary extension of
the health insurance program, and accused them of playing politics with
children’s health care by waiting until the program was about to lapse to send
him legislation they know he will veto.
“In other words,” Mr. Bush said, “members of Congress are putting health
coverage for poor children at risk so they can score political points in
Washington.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to force Mr. Bush into the uncomfortable
position of vetoing a bill covering 10 million children before any spending
bills reach his desk. They are casting the president as the compassionate
conservative who forgot his compassion.
“They thought they were going to get a fight on spending appropriations, and
what they’re getting is 10 million children’s health care,” said Representative
Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Democrat who is chairman of the House Democratic
Caucus. “Sept. 30 is the deadline on kids’ health care. We’re going
to meet that deadline and he’s going to get a chance to side with 10 million
kids or not.”
If Mr. Bush’s emphasis on fiscal restraint is angering Democrats, it is pleasing
conservatives in Mr. Bush’s own party, who have long accused the president of
allowing government spending to run amok. That criticism is percolating
again in Washington this week from an unlikely source: Alan Greenspan, the
former chairman of the Federal Reserve, who in a new book has accused Mr. Bush
of putting Republican politics ahead of fiscal responsibility.
On Thursday, Mr. Bush defended himself. “I respectfully disagree with Alan
Greenspan when it comes to saying that this administration didn’t handle the
fiscal — the fiscal issues we faced in good fashion,” he said. “As a
matter of fact, we did.”
In calling for Congress to pass a “clean, temporary extension” of the current
State Children’s Health Insurance Program, Mr. Bush argued that the Democratic
bill would raise taxes and allow children whose families earn up to $83,000 a
year to enroll. The Democrats propose paying for the measure by raising
the federal excise tax on cigarettes.
But the chief Republican sponsor of the bill in the Senate, Senator Charles E.
Grassley of Iowa, said Mr. Bush “is getting bad information.” He said Mr.
Bush’s reference to the $83,000 limit was drawn from a proposal put forth by New
York State to receive an exemption from the program’s restrictions, which the
administration recently denied.
Mr. Grassley said he appealed to the president directly Thursday morning,
telling him that a long-term extension of the current law would leave children
uncovered, and that the $5 billion increase in the program the president has
proposed is not enough to cover more children.
“Drawing lines in the sand at this stage isn’t constructive,” Mr. Grassley said,
adding, “I wish he’d engage Congress in a bill that he could sign instead of
threatening a veto, and I hope he’ll still do that.”
Democrats were more pointed. Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New
Jersey, accused Mr. Bush of a “stubborn and uncompassionate stance,” while
Representative John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who is the longest-serving
member of the House, called Mr. Bush’s stance “shameful.”
The House and the Senate have approved the legislation in different forms, and
for the last month they have been trying to reconcile their differences.
Though they have not announced the fine points of their final bill, they have
agreed on its major provisions and are expected to approve it next week, in time
for the Sept. 30 deadline.
But it is unlikely that the approval will come with a veto-proof margin.
The bill Mr. Grassley backed in the Senate passed 68 to 31, with one vote more
than the 67 necessary to override a presidential veto if all 100 senators are
voting. The House version passed 225 to 204, well short of the two-thirds
majority necessary for an override.
That means Democrats and the White House will almost certainly have to work
together on some kind of extension if Mr. Bush issues his veto, because neither
side wants to take the blame for letting the children’s health program lapse.
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
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