Dems unleash criticism after SCHIP veto override fails

After an attempt to override a presidential veto of a children’s health insurance bill fell 13 votes short in the U.S. House of Representatives today, Democrats released a barrage of criticism against Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, who refused to change their votes.

Democrats and a number of Republicans had spent almost two weeks pressuring Pearce and others to vote for the proposal, which would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $35 billion to cover another 4 million children, and fund it through an increase in the federal cigarette tax.

Supporters of the bill had enough votes to override the veto in the Senate, but, without the same support in the House, it didn’t matter. Pearce and others opposed the bill on the grounds that it was a step toward socialized medicine and expanded coverage to undocumented immigrants, an assertion I examined in a recent article.

Democratic Senate candidate Don Wiviott put out a news release calling fellow Senate candidate Pearce “a reliable rubberstamp for this White House.”

“No matter what excuses the congressman tries to make for his vote, he can’t change the facts. With one vote, he has denied millions of children – thousands of them in New Mexico – an opportunity to receive the health care they need and deserve.”

New Mexico Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón agreed.

“This cruel action ignores the wishes of 43 of our nation’s governors, as well as bipartisan majorities in Congress and eight in 10 Americans,” he said. “This vote, therefore, firmly places Steve Pearce in the ideological extreme of our state, and confirms that his values are vastly different from the mainstream of the people of New Mexico.”

U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, a moderate Republican also running for Senate, called for a compromise. She has been one of the biggest defenders of the bill in Congress.

“While the State Children’s Health Insurance Program will continue under existing law for the time being, the Congress and the president should quickly resolve their outstanding differences and reauthorize this successful program,” she said.

Gov. Bill Richardson blasted House Republicans who voted against the bill.

“By siding with the president on this failed override vote, 154 Republican members of Congress chose to protect President Bush’s misguided view, rather than protect the health of 10 million children nationwide,” he said. “This president needs to stop playing politics with the lives and health of 20,000 New Mexico children and start supporting this bipartisan legislation, which is the highest health-care priority for governors across the country.”

Pearce has not released a statement following today’s vote. It’s likely that the White House and Democratic leadership in Congress will begin discussing a compromise.

Wilson said a few “relatively minor” changes “would yield a broad, bipartisan coalition to pass this bill.”

Update, 6:20 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici called for negotiations on compromise legislation, joining 18 other Republican senators who supported the vetoed bill.

“I regret that the SCHIP program has been caught in a vortex of partisan hyperbole,” Domenici said. “I join my colleagues in demanding that good-faith negotiations begin immediately. This program has been a success and we should find a way to improve the program. A stalemate that leaves more children uninsured is no good for anyone.”

Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley, a Second Congressional District candidate, blasted House Republicans who voted against the bill.

“Many families will now be forced to continue using emergency rooms for care when their children get sick. This is bad for the children and their families, bad for hospitals, and bad for taxpayers, who end up subsidizing expensive emergency care,” McCamley said. “The fact is that nobody should be afraid to take a sick loved one to a doctor, especially when it is a child who is sick. The failure of the SCHIP bill today is the perfect example of what is wrong with Washington and why change is so badly needed. I’m running for Congress to bring that change.”

Update, 8:35 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman said he was extremely disappointed that the veto override attempt failed.

“Millions of American children lack health insurance. In our state, more than 100,000 young people are uninsured. I am extremely disappointed that the president vetoed this bill, and that the House of Representatives fell just shy of an override,” Bingaman said. “As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which crafted the Senate version of the bill, I will continue pressing for enactment of strong SCHIP legislation that extends health care coverage to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.”