Dems fall short in bid to overturn Bush's veto of kids' heath insurance expansion

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WASHINGTON - The Children's Health Insurance Program remains in limbo after House Democrats on Thursday couldn't muster enough support to beat back President Bush's opposition.

Despite the support of 44 Republicans, the Democratic leaders came 13 votes shy of overriding Bush's veto in the biggest domestic policy fight of his administration. All but two Democrats supported the override vote.

Utah's House members were split. Democrat Jim Matheson voted to override the president, while Republicans Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop affirmed the veto.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was one of the main senators behind the compromise proposal. He said he was "extremely disappointed" by Thursday's vote, but promised to work with the Congress and White House to reach a compromise before federal funding ceases in mid-November. Neither side wants to see that happen, but an agreement doesn't appear to be imminent.

At the heart of the debate is a disagreement over the role CHIP should play in American health care.

Supporters of the bill, including Hatch, see CHIP as a program that seeks to cover all children who slip through the cracks - those who are not poor enough for Medicaid but are not covered by a private plan.

Hatch backed the vetoed bill that would have more than doubled the funding from $25 billion for the next five years to $60 billion and expanded coverage from 6.6 million children to 10 million.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they would not support any plan that would drop the number of children covered below 10 million.

But Bush and many House Republicans see that as too expansive. They want the program narrowly tailored only for those making twice the poverty level or less, though they would not remove anyone making more who is already enrolled.

The president says that leaves about 500,000 children who are eligible but not yet enrolled.

"I want to provide enough money to make sure those 500,000 do get covered," Bush said Wednesday. "That ought to be the focus of our efforts."

At first, Bush only wanted to add $5 billion in spending, but government budget analysts say that is not enough to cover the rising health care costs of those already in the state programs.

The president has said he is willing to spend more, though he hasn't indicated how much.

For the past few years the number of uninsured children have started to climb again.

"At a time when it is often tough to make progress on important issues, why would we want to turn our backs on our kids and stop this progress in its tracks," Matheson said during the floor debate Thursday.

Cannon doesn't look at CHIP as progress. He has always opposed the program because he believes the private market could handle this problem with the right government nudge.

"We all want all children to have health care," he said in a statement. "The best way to achieve that goal is by having people keep more of what they earn. Providing a tax break so families could buy private health insurance and ensuring that only worthy medical malpractice cases make it to court would do more than any government program ever could."

Bush has asked Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department and a former Utah governor, to lead negotiations with Congress.

"The administration offers an open door," Leavitt said in a statement. "We have many areas of agreement and I'm hopeful that we can soon find consensus on the issues that divide us and then get on to the broader task of ensuring every American has access to an affordable health insurance plan."

The president wants the debate to focus on the eligibility level and the adults who are covered.

Hatch and his staff will most likely be involved in those high level talks and he takes issue with these criticisms.

He has said the bill would phase out adults who are now covered in some states. No adults are covered in Utah. And he said the Bush administration granted waivers for some states to cover children in families with higher incomes.

Democrats, including Pelosi, repeatedly referred to Hatch and his conservative credentials during Thursday's debate. But it was of no use.

Voting against the override were 154 Republicans and two Democrats: Jim Marshall, D-Ga., and Gene Taylor, D-Miss. Because the House failed to override, the Senate will not take up the matter.

When the House first passed the bipartisan CHIP expansion bill earlier this year, 45 Republicans supported it.

mcanham@sltrib.com