October 25, 2007

GOP Unhappy With SCHIP Vote Sked

With Republicans crying foul, House leaders scheduled a vote this morning on a children's health bill that makes minor changes to the one vetoed by President Bush earlier this month.

"The bill addresses all of the concerns of our colleagues," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Basically, the changes in the bill meet the objections of the administration as nearly as it can be done. And I will observe the spurious, fraudulent, false, dishonest, deceitful objections that the administration has sent up," said Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell. "They know better."

The bill addresses Republican concerns that the bill to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program would cover adults and families who earn up to $83,000 annually, as well as illegal immigrants. It would strengthen the original bill's eligibility cap at 300 percent of poverty, phase childless adults off the program within one year instead of two, and clarify language stating that illegal immigrants will not be eligible.

Supporters said it is unclear whether the changes are enough to woo more Republicans to support it. "The complaints that they had were false complaints, so we clarified them," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who is on House No. 3's James Clyburn's whip team. "They're still going to say that we're covering rich people, illegal aliens and adults, because the truth is no impediment in this situation."

Republicans indicated they have no intention of voting for a bill they had not seen until the eve of the vote, and they dismissed the changes as cosmetic. "I think there may be a number of fig leaves, and they may be translucent. They may even be transparent," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich. "What they want to do is pick off a few members and run it through for political purposes."

Several Republican supporters of the bill asked House leaders to postpone the vote until next week. But House leaders said they need to move forward this week to reserve time for a continuing resolution if Bush decides to veto this version. In floor debate this morning, GOP lawmakers protested the timing of the vote.

Following the Democrats' caucus meeting, sources said leaders told the rank-and-file that moving forward with the bill counters some of the falsehoods perpetuated by the White House and Republican critics in Congress. The vote would frame the issue for next year's election if Democrats again fail to override Bush's expected veto of the bill.

GOP leadership aides said the Democrats' decision to bring up the bill quickly with minimal changes when at least half a dozen California members are expected to be out of town shows the majority is not interested in moving forward with a real compromise. "This is completely outrageous. They're trying to ram this through the House as fires are raging out of control in California," said one GOP aide.

Following an afternoon meeting in which House Minority Leader John Boehner and other GOP leaders urged members to stand their ground, House Republicans appeared to be unfazed. "I think everyone is just sick of SCHIP," said one Republican member who voted against the original bill.

Republican Conference sources were also adamant that even if House Democrats are able to cull together the GOP votes needed for a veto override, Bush would never sign any bill with a tax increase. "He's never voted for one and he's not going to start now," said one GOP lawmaker.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt indicated the administration would continue to block the measure. He said efforts to move adults off SCHIP and bar illegal immigrants from gaining coverage could result in a bill costing at least $15 billion less than the proposed $35 billion expansion.

"We're not going to put $15 billion that's unneeded into the program so that they can expand to higher and higher income levels later," he said. Leavitt said the administration continues to oppose the 61-cent per-pack cigarette tax increase that funds the expansion.

Meanwhile, a coalition of organized labor and liberal groups are expanding an advertising campaign targeting Republican House members who voted last week to sustain Bush's veto. Organizers estimated the ads would cost $800,000.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is running ads that target Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., Tim Walberg, R-Mich., Sam Graves, R-Mo., and New York Republicans Randy Kuhl and Tom Reynolds.

The Service Employees International Union is ready to launch spots as early as today against Reps. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., Rodney Alexander, R-La., Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Robin Hayes, R-N.C., John Peterson, R-Pa., Thelma Drake, R-Va., and Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo.

USAction and MoveOn.org have been running ads aimed at Florida Republicans Tom Feeney and Ric Keller, as well as Musgrave, Kuhl, Walberg and Graves.

-Fawn Johnson and Christian Bourge, CongressDaily. Mark Wegner contributed to this report.

Posted at 11:34 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Health, House, President Bush
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