Bush Vetoes Children's Health Insurance Bill

As promised, President George Bush today vetoed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation that was sent to the White House earlier this week. The proposal had been passed by the U.S. Senate in a 67-29 vote last week. While the Senate has enough votes to overturn the presidential veto, the U.S. House of Representatives Democrats still need 15 Republican votes to swing to their side in order to overturn the veto.The new program would expand upon the existing program to double the number of covered children, from 4 million to an estimated 8 million. However, critics of the program are concerned it would be a move toward universal coverage and would encourage some parents to drop their existing private coverage in favor of the cheaper coverage provided by SCHIP.