October 19, 2007
House Sustains President’s Veto of SCHIP

The U.S. House of Representatives failed October 18 to override a veto by President Bush of a renewal of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The 273 to 156 vote total was 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. In Thursday’s vote, 229 Democrats and 44 Republicans supported the effort to override the President’s veto, while two Democrats and 154 Republicans voted to sustain it. Advocates for SCHIP immediately announced plans to push for a new bill that would expand the numbers of children eligible for SCHIP by increasing funding for the program over the next five years, but it was considered unlikely that the President would agree to such an expansion, which he has categorized as “an opening wedge to socialized medicine.” Meanwhile, SCHIP is slated to continue at its present levels under a continuing resolution adopted by Congress in September that funds programs not yet reauthorized at their existing funding and rules until new bills are passed.

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