This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon, members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah, are pro-life, pro-family, penny-pinching Republicans. Or so they say.

They could prove it by voting to override the presidential veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance for kids whose parents make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to purchase coverage through their employers or on their own.

SCHIP is a pro-life program, because it saves children's lives. It's pro-family, because it helps families cope in the midst of a national health care crisis. And it's fiscally conservative, because it will keep uninsured children out of hospital emergency rooms, where taxpayers wind up paying much higher bills, something that President Bush, and apparently Bishop and Cannon, prefer.

As federal programs go, SCHIP is a winner. Since its authorization a decade ago, the program has helped millions of families and saved countless dollars and lives. Still, hundreds of thousands of helpless American children are uninsured, including 90,000 in Utah, an increase of 26 percent since 2005.

In an attempt to address the problem, and make a good thing better, Congress reauthorized the SCHIP program this year. And members had the compassion to add an extra $35 billion to insure an additional 4 million children over the next five years. The bill passed by a veto-proof majority in the Senate, no thanks to Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, and by a vote of 265-159 in the House, no thanks to Cannon and Bishop.

But Bush, who has enjoyed government-funded health care most of his life and never had to choose between feeding or insuring his children, said the program amounts to "socialized medicine," and vetoed the bill. House Democrats will attempt to override the veto Thursday, but 290 votes are required, so they'll need some more help from the other side of the aisle.

We hope Reps. Cannon and Bishop will show their true colors; that they'll bolster their pro-life and pro-family credentials; that they'll serve their most-vulnerable constituents instead of their lame-duck president, and vote to override the veto.

Like Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said when scolding Bush for vetoing the bill: Bolstering SCHIP is the "morally right thing" to do.