Bush Assails SCHIP Bill; Congress Targeting CMS Rules

9/21/2007

President Bush today sought to get the jump on Congress as it prepares to consider the State Children's Health Insurance Program next week, vowing to veto the legislation and demanding that Congress pass a temporary extension. "Congress must pass a clean, temporary extension of the current SCHIP program that I can sign by September the 30th," when the program expires, Bush said. The president said he asked HHS Secretary Leavitt to work with states to mitigate damage that would result if the program lapses. Bush said the legislation represented "an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American."

Asked about the tobacco tax increase in the bill, Bush said no new taxes were needed to fund the program. Leavitt suggested flexibility on the funding level as long as Congress abandons efforts to expand coverage beyond children living under 200 percent of the poverty line. Leavitt said the focus should be on finding children who are eligible for the program but not covered.

The version on the House and Senate floors next week will include language targeting the administration's new rule making it more difficult for states to cover children at higher income levels under the SCHIP, according to lawmakers involved in the negotiations. Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, were mum on the details because the language is still being drafted. Democrats have decried the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule, issued in August, because they say it imposes standards that are virtually impossible to meet. The rule requires states to certify that 95 percent of children under 200 percent of the poverty line have health coverage before they can expand eligibility to above 250 percent. If the new SCHIP includes language to rescind the rule, that would make it difficult for some House Republicans who might otherwise support the measure to vote for it, according to House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee ranking member Dave Camp, R-Mich.

Bill supporters decried Bush's statement today. "The statement shows a miserable lack of understanding of what we're doing and even what his own administration has done," Grassley said. He took particular issue with Bush's statement that families making $82,000 annually would be eligible for coverage. That figure refers to a request, which CMS denied, from New York to cover families at 400 percent of the poverty level. The Senate bill, on which the compromise measure is based, does not allow SCHIP coverage at that level, Grassley said. "His understanding of our bill is wrong, and I would urge the president to reconsider his veto message based upon the bill we might pass, not something that some staffer has told him wrongly about our bill," Grassley said. Bush called Grassley this morning to alert him of his statement. Also today, at a House Democratic Caucus meeting on SCHIP, Speaker Pelosi and other leaders stressed that proposals had to be dropped from the broader House approach because a bill needed 60 votes to overcome delaying tactics.

Outlook.   The House faces a busier floor schedule next week than has been the recent norm, with Democrats looking for traction on domestic issues. A compromise House-Senate measure expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program is expected on the floor Tuesday. In addition, members will vote on legislation changing the National Flood Insurance Program, along with a bill requiring OSHA to regulate exposure limits for chemicals used in the manufacturing of microwave popcorn. A continuing resolution to provide operational funding past the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year also must be approved by the end of the week. The Senate will continue work on the FY08 defense authorization bill, but with more than 200 amendments still pending it remains to be seen which will be taken up, or in what order. The Senate is aiming to finish all Iraq amendment votes this week, said an aide to Armed Services Chairman Levin. Majority Leader Reid hopes to take up the SCHIP compromise and the continuing resolution.