SCHIP Sides Dig In For Extended Fight

10/03/2007

SCHIP Sides Dig In For Extended Fight 

President Bush vetoed a children's health measure early today after much ballyhoo by the bill's supporters begging him to change his mind.

"I would not anticipate that there would be any ceremony," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. "The president will probably veto it quietly."

The veto, will set in motion a flurry of whipping activities by Democrats hoping to drum up the support of roughly a dozen Republican House members needed to override the veto.

The efforts will likely postpone an override vote beyond next week, House Majority Leader Hoyer said Tuesday.

At a White House meeting with GOP leaders, House Minority Whip Blunt said he was absolutely confident that Republicans would be able to sustain the veto.  Republicans opposed to the bipartisan bill want the veto to represent the beginning of a discussion on how to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., is vetting a new proposal with Republicans and the administration that would keep current enrollees on the program and create a health tax credit for families at 200 to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.  Martinez said he believes SCHIP enrollees could be retained for an additional $5 billion, but he added that he would be willing to add to that figure to ensure no one loses coverage. The bill sent to the White House would add $35 billion to the program.
     
Under Martinez's proposal, the new tax credit would give families $1,400 for health insurance. It is estimated to cover an additional 2 million children, Martinez said. It has yet to be scored.

"We're at an impasse after tomorrow," Martinez said Tuesday, referring to Bush's expected veto. "We, as Republicans, can't just be against something. We've got to be for something."

Martinez is working on the proposal with Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, and other House Republicans. The White House is involved in the discussions.  Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, called Martinez's plan too little, too late. "They were talking about that in March and April and May," he said.

"If they were ready to go, why didn't they offer it?"

Grassley added that he was forced into SCHIP negotiations over the summer with little guidance from Senate leaders.

"Nobody ever said, 'Don't negotiate.' Nobody ever said they didn't like SCHIP. Nobody ever said we shouldn't continue SCHIP ... I negotiated the best bill I could."

Recently, Grassley has become the scourge of GOP leaders in the Senate, according to aides, because he has embraced a compromise that they cannot support. Grassley's repeated public pleas to Bush to reconsider his veto threat have not helped the situation.  Grassley said the political atmosphere has been too poisoned to accommodate further discussions about SCHIP. The likely outcome of the standoff is a yearlong continuing resolution, he said, which would continue policies opposed by Republicans.

"They don't like what we're doing now because adults are getting on. They're complaining about it. Who gives the waivers that allows it to happen? A Republican administration. They veto a bill. We continue bad policy that they've been complaining about since January," Grassley said. "I'm having a hard time seeing light at the end of the tunnel."

The SCHIP battle appears to be a major stumbling block to other health legislation that must be completed by the end of the year.  Finance Chairman Baucus said Tuesday that lawmakers would not be able to address a scheduled 10 percent pay cut for physicians under Medicare until they know the outcome of the SCHIP override vote.

Baucus acknowledged that some sort of Medicare package needs attention before lawmakers adjourn. The Senate Finance Committee is working on a package that would temporarily stave off the physician pay cut and also provide cost updates to pharmacies and tinker with the prescription drug program.  But first, Baucus said, Congress must decide how to handle the SCHIP proposal. If lawmakers fail to override Bush's veto, he said, Congress will send the bill right back to the White House.