A bipartisan group including Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, announced a compromise that would more than double the cost of the popular program and insure a total of 10 million children, an increase of more than 3 million over current levels.

"If we don't give them adequate health care now, the cost to society will go up tremendously," Hatch said. "I wish the president would stop saying he'd veto it."

The $35 billion CHIP bill is expected to pass Congress. The real question is whether it will pass with a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto. The first test could come as early as Tuesday, when House leaders plan to vote on the compromise.

House Republican leaders have sided with the president against the bill.

Bush believes the CHIP extension is a Democratic ploy to inch closer to government-run health care. He opposes the large cigarette tax increase used to fund the bill. And he criticizes the bill for allowing some adults and middle-class children to receive coverage.

"I believe the president has had bad advice on this," Hatch said on a conference call with reporters Friday.

He said the negotiated bill would phase out adults who have received coverage after the Bush and Clinton administrations provided waivers to states.

The only middle-class children who would receive coverage are those living in high-cost metro areas in states that also get waivers from the government.

"The administration holds the keys to that," Hatch said.

The bill is a compromise because the House passed a $50 billion CHIP extension that also tinkered with Medicaid.

The Senate passed a bill similar to the compromise with a veto-proof majority of 68, but Hatch conceded that some of the votes are "soft." Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, voted against the original bill, citing concerns similar to the president.

"It is uphill for us, but it is a battle we have to wage," Hatch said.

Bush wants Congress to extend CHIP but provide only $5 billion. Hatch said that may not cover all of the children currently in the program.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said on Thursday that Bush's proposal should cover all children in families who make twice the poverty level.

Hatch disagrees. He said the compromise, which would add $35 billion to the baseline budget of $25 billion, wouldn't even do that. Some of the additional funding would go to finding eligible children and signing them up.

mcanham@sltrib.com