House upholds Bush veto on SCHIP

WASHINGTON — The House failed to override President Bush's veto of the children's health insurance bill Thursday, and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said he will lead negotiations to find a compromise between the White House and Congress.

The override failed 273 to 156, about a dozen votes short of the two-thirds needed to defeat a veto.

Congress had approved a bill to add $35 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program and extend it over the next five years with expanded coverage, while the president wanted to expand the program by $5 billion by 2012 and limit coverage to children from families at 200 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four in 2007, the federal poverty level is $20,650, so a family of four earning $41,300 or less per year would be eligible for coverage under Bush's proposal.

Leavitt said Thursday that "the administration offers an open door" to reach a compromise.

"Both as a governor at the program's inception and today as secretary, I know what this program has done for millions of children," Leavitt said. "Members of Congress saw the wisdom in putting children from low-income families at the front of the SCHIP line, giving another chance to get this right. I will continue to work with members to stay true to the principle that poor children should come first in public assistance programs like SCHIP."

Leavitt, a former Utah governor, said that the federal Children's Health Insurance Program is in place until Nov. 15 and that he has worked with the states to make sure that no one currently covered by the program loses coverage while Washington figures out what to do.

"No children lose coverage," Leavitt said in an interview. "The question now is who is intended to be covered."

Utah's Republican House members voted to sustain the veto, while Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, wanted to override it.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, called the bill "flawed legislation." He advocates giving families a tax break to help them buy private health insurance and limiting malpractice lawsuits to help keep health-care costs down.

"We could reauthorize the program tomorrow for truly needy kids if we could remove the politics from a serious debate over children's health," Cannon said.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, was disappointed "the House wasted so much time posturing on this issue, when we all knew where we'd end up this week."