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House Democrats are not in a negotiating mood after they picked up more than 40 Republican votes Tuesday to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

"I don't think we're the ones who have to find our way out of this one," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who helped whip Democrats to support the bill. "It's not our problem. It's the president's problem and his party's problem."

The Senate is expected to pass the bill today, sending the measure to President Bush, who has said he will veto it. Republicans in the House have said they hope the veto will begin a discussion about the SCHIP bill.

For DeGette, any attempt to change the number of children covered or the amount of money on the table is a nonstarter for House Democrats, who originally wanted to add $50 billion to the program.

States will have at least a temporary reprieve from losing federal dollars under SCHIP as a result of a continuing resolution that lasts through Nov. 16. Without another extension, those states will be unable to use the extra money in the CR after that date, according to Senate aides.

Senate Minority Whip Lott and House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, both have proposed an 18-month extension of the program, but those ideas have gained no traction among supporters of the SCHIP bill.

Finance Committee aides say a longer-term extension would allow some adults to continue to receive SCHIP. Lott and Barton have said they oppose adult coverage.

The SCHIP bill, by contrast, would phase out coverage of childless adults and give states a reduced match rate if they want to cover parents.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who helped write the SCHIP bill, said Wednesday that he hopes there could be some tweaks to the program that would satisfy the president.

Hatch said Bush is protesting the "ideology" of an SCHIP expansion, indicating that if the White House and the Congress could reach a consensus on that, some agreement on funding levels could follow.

"I don't understand how we do the ideology thing in the next three or four days," Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said.

"I don't either," Hatch conceded.

After Bush vetoes the SCHIP bill, congressional sponsors are weighing a number of options for continuing the program, including language in future continuing resolutions.

Finance aides say as many as 35 states could experience SCHIP shortfalls next year if a CR provides no new money.

Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, made an impassioned plea to Bush Wednesday on the Senate floor to reconsider his veto plans, promising to continue working on Bush's health tax policies.

"I think we can move in ways of accomplishing what the president wants to accomplish, but it just couldn't continue on the SCHIP [bill]."

Grassley had some harsh words for Republicans who are criticizing the bill as a new entitlement. "Within the last four hours, among a mass of my colleagues, that argument was used. I don't know how intellectually dishonest you can be," he said.

"An entitlement is something that if you qualify for it, you get it, and the money comes from the federal treasury and there's no limit on the amount of money. ... This is a specific amount of money for this program and not one dollar more can be spent. This is not an entitlement."