Bush veto for child health bill

[carrie721]

sweet. i hate when kids have health care.

US President George W Bush has vetoed a bill to expand a children's healthcare insurance scheme, after it was passed with a large majority in the Senate.

Mr Bush argues it takes the programme beyond its original purpose of insuring children from low-income families.

The vetoed bill proposed higher tobacco taxes to provide an extra $35bn (£17bn) to insure some 10 million children.

Children's health insurance is set to be a campaign issue in next year's elections, analysts say.

Eighteen Republican senators joined Democrats last week in passing the legislation by a 67-29 vote.

But the House of Representatives, which approved the bill by 265-159, was well short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

It is only the fourth time Mr Bush has used his veto power in the course of his presidency.

Public support

The State Children's Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP) currently subsidises health care for some 6.6 million people, most of them children.

It is directed at families who earn too much to qualify for the Medicaid programme for the poor but cannot afford private health insurance cover.

Mr Bush had said he wanted only a $5bn increase in funding for the scheme.

He argued that expanding its coverage further would encourage people currently covered in the private sector to switch to government coverage - and that the proposal was too costly.

His decision to veto the bill is likely to prove unpopular with many people, however, correspondents say.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll suggested that more than seven in 10 Americans supported the $35bn increase proposed in the bill.

Congressional battle

Democrats in the House say they will seek to persuade sufficient Republican congressmen to change sides to be able to override Mr Bush's veto.

But House Republican leader Roy Blunt said he was "absolutely confident" that he would be able to prevent that happening.

Republican Senator Trent Lott is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the two parties should be able to reach a compromise once the bill has been vetoed.

"We should not allow it to be expanded to higher and higher income levels, and to adults," he said. "This is about poor children."

Many Republicans are likely to feel the pressure of public opinion ahead of congressional elections in November next year.

Mr Bush has previously used his veto twice to block legislation that would have eased restrictions on federally funded stem-cell research and once to halt a bill linking war funding to a timetable for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...as/7026454.stm

so glad he's using his veto power wisely

[mikeschmike]

Originally Posted by carrie721

sweet. i hate when kids have health care.



so glad he's using his veto power wisely

He's threatening to veto the Mathew Shepard act as well. You know, because crimes against gays are a-okay with baby jesus.

F*cking douche.

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by mikeschmike

He's threatening to veto the Mathew Shepard act as well. You know, because crimes against gays are a-okay with baby jesus.

F*cking douche.

of course he is. what a ****ing heinous bastard.

so what has he used his veto power for so far? stem cell research, timetable for iraq, healthcare for KIDS, and now he's threatening to veto the MS act.

we're going back in time.

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by carrie721

so what has he used his veto power for so far? stem cell research, timetable for iraq, healthcare for KIDS, and now he's threatening to veto the MS act.

we're going back in time.

exactly. I mean, exactly, what I was going to say.

[estranged4life]

As I am known to say...

"I didnt vote for him"

[DrummerDeanna]

Originally Posted by carrie721

of course he is. what a ****ing heinous bastard.

so what has he used his veto power for so far? stem cell research, timetable for iraq, healthcare for KIDS, and now he's threatening to veto the MS act.

we're going back in time.

Thank you. Exactly. This all just makes me so angry. So ****ing angry.

[BTFLCHLD]

Here you can send your comments to bush/congress:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/page/s/CHIP

[stevierocks87]

Does this man do ANYTHING but stiffle any sort of good/progessive/peaceful ....anything?

He will surely will go down in history as absolutely the worst president in the history of the United States. I just can't believe that his actions throughout the course of his presidency mirror the values of the majority of Americans....and if they do, I am scared for our country. To me, the biggest problem is the Republican/Religious Right partnership. My family voted for him because they are conservative Christians and don't want abortion or gay marriage, as if ABSOLUTELY NOTHING else matters- the environment, social policy, the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on war that we will be paying for the rest of our lives. It seems people like my grandmother just can't let themselves believe that their campions of "family values" actually might be immoral, evil people.

Oh America....anyone remember the last time they felt anything but nausea at the hint of anything "patriotic"?

[JazmenFlowers]

^^^

I'm so tired of you America.

you took advantage of a world that loved you well.

-Rufus Wainwright

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by stevierocks87

Oh America....anyone remember the last time they felt anything but nausea at the hint of anything "patriotic"?

sadly, no.

[Serrart]

Well, he could be an idiot hostage of the lobbies who gave a consistent hand to make the world even messier and more violent and dangerous than before, but at least he's able to say Sarkozy (with a little help, but still...).

Any chance he would repent and decide to become a Carthusian monk in the next months, making all of us very happy?

Romy

[priestofnothing]

...someone said somethin bout....


...what's the world coming to.....

[buckymcnix]

Originally Posted by stevierocks87

Oh America....anyone remember the last time they felt anything but nausea at the hint of anything "patriotic"?

it is terrible

I love the country but hate what the administration has done with it.

They have wrapped themselves so tightly in the country's traditional images that any criticism of them seems to be attacking the country. It's working beautifully for them isn't it?

We need to take back our symbols and not them to be tarnished by their horrible misdeeds.

[sasja]

I am normally a staunch pacifist but willing to make an exception here.
WHAT a Jerk he is. But we knew that already. Sadly am not even surprised, and wondering wide-eyed how come abortion is still legal and gays and mentally handicapped folk not in ghettos with tall fences and guards around them or something.

That man is causing so much damage accross the board that it wil take 20+ years to clean up the fallout messes.
Dear God, does the man now not even have the ability anylonger to rub his two lonely braincells together.

I actually think that BUSH personally is the biggest terrorist attacker and further terrorist threat to this nation!!!

[BombaySapphire3]

There are no words to describe the way I feel about this creature.