Last week, House Democrats failed to override President George W. Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion bill. This week, they’re considering drafting a new bill that would expand SCHIP, place a moratorium on rules limiting Medicaid eligibility, and provide a temporary boost to the federal medical assistance percentage for Medicaid. (Kaiser Network)
Will Democrats garner enough votes for the proposed bill to override a presidential veto? Probably not. The issue seems to surround the amount of funding for SCHIP and not expansion itself.
After President Bush vetoed the SCHIP expansion bill the first time, lawmakers revised it but didn’t change the funding amount. Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the administration would have been willing to sign a bill to increase SCHIP’s funding by only $20 billion over five years, as opposed to $35 billion over five years. Unless Democrats come up with a lower figure, it’s likely Republicans will vote against the measure.
In other funding news, Senate Democrats have criticized President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, in which he seeks to reduce Medicare and Medicaid funding. Read more about the hearings at the Kaiser Network.