BlueBloggin

Bush being the good Christian that he espouses, just gave sick and needy children in an early Christmas present ….a veto. What a piece of crap we have for a president. We actually need to stop associating the word president with Bush, for he is the anti-president. The little weasel that Bush is waited until the last day to veto the bill and he did it in private. Had Bush not privately picked up his pen the bill would have become law. Bush’s reason the bill send healthcare in the wrong direction. Really can someone tell me the right direction of healthcare in this country is? Merry freaking Christmas!

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have expanded government-provided health insurance for children, his second slap-down of a bipartisan effort in Congress to dramatically increase funding for the popular program.

It was Bush’s seventh veto in seven years – all but one coming since Democrats took control of Congress in January. Wednesday was the deadline for Bush to act or let the bill become law. The president also vetoed an earlier, similar bill expanding the health insurance program.

Bush vetoed the bill in private.

In a statement notifying Congress of his decision, Bush said the bill was unacceptable because – like the first one – it allows adults into the program, would cover people in families with incomes above the U.S. median and raises taxes.

“This bill does not put poor children first, and it moves our country’s health care system in the wrong direction,” Bush’s statement said. “Ultimately, our nation’s goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage, not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage.”

The bill passed the Democratic-controlled Senate by a veto-proof margin, but the same was not true in the House. Even after the bill was approved, negotiations continued to find a compromise version that would attract enough Republican lawmakers to override Bush’s expected veto. A two-thirds vote in both chambers is required to override a presidential veto.

But that effort was unsuccessful.

The bill Bush vetoed would have increased federal funding for SCHIP by $35 billion over five years, to add an estimated 4 million people to the program that provides insurance coverage for children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. The joint federal-state program currently provides benefits to roughly 6 million people, mostly children.

Posted by nytexan December 12th, 2007 | Category: Bush, Congress, Health Care, SCHIP, Veto | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL