Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush vetoed an expansion of a U.S. children's health insurance program today for the second time, saying the Democratic majority in Congress ignored his objections and refused to negotiate.
Administration officials said the veto would be sustained, as was the president's rejection of a similar measure on Oct. 3.
"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,'' Bush said in his veto message to Congress. "As a result, I cannot sign this legislation."
The latest version of legislation to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as Schip, would have cost $35 billion over five years and added 4 million children to the 6 million now covered. The expansion would have been financed by raising the U.S. tax on cigarettes to $1 from 39 cents a pack.
Bush has argued that lawmakers were converting a program to help low-income children into a benefit for families that can afford private insurance.
Democrats will put off trying to override Bush's veto and instead seek to extend the current program, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference today before Bush acted. Schip was due to expire at the end of September, and its funding has been maintained at 2007 levels during debate over its future.
"Sad Action"
"This is indeed a sad action for him to take,'' Pelosi said. "Let it be clear that Democrats will not rest until 10 million children have access to health care."
While Democrats have enough votes to override the veto in the Senate, they fall short in the House, where negotiations in early November failed to yield a bipartisan agreement.
House Republicans have said they aren't satisfied with provisions to ensure illegal immigrants don't qualify for benefits and also want stricter limits on family income.
Today's veto is the latest in a series of confrontations between a Congress aiming to shift priorities, and Bush, who says he wants to rein in federal spending.
The president has issued veto threats against catch-all spending legislation needed to keep the government operating and another measure that would raise some taxes to balance the cost of changing the alternative minimum tax so that it won't affect middle-income individuals. The administration also is threatening vetoes over policy differences on energy and farm measures.
No Direct Talks
The White House showed no signs today of attempting to open direct negotiations on spending between Bush and Congress as lawmakers come down to the final days before their scheduled Christmas break.
"It's also hard to negotiate when the Democrats have not come together on one unified position," Bush press secretary Dana Perino said. "Once all of them come together on one position, then we can have a negotiation."
In the meantime, Bush has ordered budget director Jim Nussle, a former Republican member of Congress from Iowa, to do the White House's negotiating on everything from funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to an overhaul of basic farm law.
In Congress, Democrats assert Bush is unreasonable in refusing to negotiate on his budget of $933 billion in domestic discretionary spending. While Democrats want to spend $22 billion more than Bush does, they have reduced their proposal by half, to $11 billion. The result, so far, is a stalemate on funding much of the government beyond Dec. 14.
Additional Money
Democrats want additional money for education, job training, and other social programs. "Democrats believe the stakes are too high to play games with funding for these critical needs," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a statement."
Debate may extend into next week, beyond a hoped-for adjournment this weekend, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat of Maryland, said today.
That may point to Congress passing a catch-all spending bill to fund the government into the new year. Asked if Bush would veto such a measure, Perino said, "that's possible."
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