Bush Fights Losing Battle Over Kids' Health Care

President Bush -- buoyed by the Senate Republicans holding Democrats at bay over troop deployments in Iraq yesterday -- came out swinging at the Congress today over passage of the State Child Health Care Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Bush is up in arms over a proposed expansion of the program. He wants Congress to agree to a small increase of $5 billion over five years. Left alone, the program would expire Sept. 30.

The program provides coverage to poor children who are ineligible for coverage under Medicare and who lack private health insurance, and according to a Senate report, it's been a big success. According to the report, the number of uninsured children has decreased from 14% in 1997 to about 9% in 2005, bucking the opposite trend for adults.

The Senate and the House this week will finalize details on the expansion, which would add 4 million children to the 6 million the program already serves. The sticking point comes over the House approving a more generous expansion of $50 billion, as opposed to the Senate's $35 billion.

Bush says he philosophically opposes expanding coverage. He chided Congress for trying to take a "step toward government-run" health care and vowed to veto the bill once it reaches his desk. It passed the Senate with a 68-31 margin -- sufficient to override a veto.

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