By Alex Wayne, CQ Staff

House Democrats will attempt Wednesday to override President Bush’s second veto of a children’s health insurance bill, but they will likely win little new Republican support, and the effort is expected to fail.

This time, the Democrats are framing the vote as part of a plan to jump-start the economy, but that strategy seems unlikely to alter last year’s script.

Democrats spent almost all of 2007 battling with Bush over a proposed expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which covers about 6 million children whose families are low-income but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

The Democrats were unsuccessful, as Bush — backed by most congressional Republicans — vetoed two bills (HR 976, HR 3963) that would have expanded the program by $35 billion over five years, to $60 billion.

President Bush signed a law Dec. 19 (PL 110-273) intended to provide SCHIP enough money to maintain its current enrollment through March 31, 2009. Democrats say the expansion Bush vetoed, by comparison, would have meant health insurance coverage for about 4 million more children. About 9 million children are thought to be uninsured.

Democrats aren’t about to drop the issue, which they consider a political winner, especially in an election year. And with the economy in trouble, Democrats are trying to depict an expansion of SCHIP as part of an economic stimulus plan aimed at middle- and lower-income families.

“Times have changed since last October, when the president vetoed the compromise SCHIP bill for the second time,” Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said in a Jan. 18 conference call.

“Now it looks like our economy is heading into a recession. Not only will the 4 million families who would be eligible for health care coverage [under the bill] be without health care coverage . . . but also the economy will be without that stimulus that spending for health care would give us,” DeGette added.

Last week, two liberal interest groups, Americans United for Change and ¬USAction, tried to pressure about 50 House Republicans who have voted against previous SCHIP bills to change their position for Wednesday’s override vote. But the groups did not buy advertising against the Republicans, as they have in previous campaigns, instead relying on only grass-roots pressure and media coverage.

“It is a tough hill to climb because we’re asking these people to change their votes,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United. “But we’re also asking them to look at the change in circumstances.”
Republicans seemed unmoved.

“The Democrats for months could not get a compromise SCHIP to pass because they could not address Republican concerns about putting poor kids first,” said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri. “Changing their talking points isn’t going to change the outcome of tomorrow’s highly partisan and political vote on the House floor.”

Fight May Continue

House Democrats fell 13 votes short of overriding Bush’s veto of their first SCHIP bill (HR 976) on Oct. 18. The second bill (HR 3963) passed the House, 265-142, on Oct. 25, with even less Republican support. Democratic congressional leaders hung on to the bill for about a month after it cleared the Senate, hoping to negotiate changes with Republicans that would win a dozen or so additional votes. Democratic leaders gave up and sent it to Bush on Nov. 30. He vetoed the measure Dec. 12.

The two bills are largely similar: Both would have expanded SCHIP by $35 billion over five years, offsetting the new spending with an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent increase in the cigarette tax, to $1 per pack.

Republicans have at various times objected to the tax increase in the bills or to their spending levels; they have also charged that the bills would allow middle-class families and illegal immigrants to enroll in the program.

“During these challenging days, it would be irresponsible to expand the SCHIP program to cover adults, illegal immigrants and those who already have private health insurance, at the expense of the low-income children who need it most,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio.

Even if the veto override fails, Democrats won’t necessarily give up on passing an SCHIP expansion. DeGette and Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois said Democrats might bring up another bill before the election.

“This is a fight for children,” Schakowsky said. “We’re not just going to fold our tent and go home and say, ‘Oh well, too bad.’ ”