WASHINGTON – The politically charged proposal to extend health insurance to more than 3 million poor and lower-income children nationally – one of the most ambitious domestic health proposals to come through Congress in the last decade – unfolded yesterday in the Senate under the shadow of a formal veto threat from President Bush.
But unlike previous debates pitting Democrats against Republicans, yesterday’s floor action on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, put many Republicans at odds with their president and other members of the party. The Senate plan would expand children’s health insurance by $35 billion over the next five years, while the House is expected to take up a competing proposal later in the week that could boost the initiative by $50 billion during the same time frame.