October 29, 2007

House Returns To Negotiating Table On SCHIP

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel were to meet today with a group of Republicans to discuss the possibility for compromise on a children's health care bill. House Republicans said it appears unlikely the bill's sponsors will be able to amend the measure enough to change the minds of at least a dozen GOP members needed to override a presidential veto.

"The Democratic leadership appears wedded to a significant expansion of government-run health care," said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. "It doesn't appear that they're interested in a positive solution."

Further tinkering on the proposal to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program could be done during the Senate debate this week. Price was one of 36 House Republicans who sent a letter on Friday to Hoyer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that said the version passed last week "does not reflect the spirit of bipartisan negotiations and instead disrupts a process that had the potential to create a good, bipartisan bill."

A similar group of GOP members wrote President Bush earlier in the month outlining a set of SCHIP principles. The SCHIP bill's sponsors then used that letter to make changes to the version that Bush vetoed. Democrats characterized the changes as minor, and Republicans groused that they did little more than change the typeface. The House passed the bill Thursday short of a veto-proof majority, as Republicans complained about rushing the second version through the House.

Republicans who support SCHIP expansion said the bill's sponsors made an honest effort to respond to opponents' concerns. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said the hard cap on eligibility at 300 percent of the federal poverty level went a long way toward addressing opponents' desire to cover the poorest children first. But the latest letter from Republican opponents said they want the bill to include a "minimal target" for covering children below 200 percent of poverty before expanding eligibility to higher income levels. They also want to tighten rules about the types of income that can be ignored when determining eligibility. "This loophole could permit a family earning more than 300 percent of the poverty level to receive benefits," the letter said.

Negotiators may have the biggest problem tackling immigration issues. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., who attended a meeting last week with House Democratic leaders on SCHIP, said he wants "express lane" procedures stripped from the bill that allow states to use Social Security numbers to verify citizenship. Instead, Keller said, all Medicaid and SCHIP enrollees should be required to submit citizenship documents to receive benefits.

But if sponsors met that demand, they would lose support from Democrats and some Republicans, who say the Medicaid citizenship document requirements make it extremely difficult to cover any poor beneficiary. Foster children, for example, "don't show up with a toothbrush, let alone a birth certificate," Wilson said. The latest version of the SCHIP bill requires states to seek citizenship documents from applicants if their Social Security numbers and names do not match government databases, but opponents say that change could still allow illegal immigrants to get benefits.

-Fawn Johnson, CongressDaily

Posted at 5:31 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Health, House, President Bush, Senate
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