President Bush Vetoes SCHIP Legislation

This morning, President Bush vetoed H.R. 976, the bill passed by Congress to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). In a press conference this morning, the President’s Press Secretary stated that the administration will work with Congress to ensure the neediest children are receiving health insurance coverage. In particular, the administration is focusing on children in families that have annual income of less than $41,300 which is 200% of the 2007 poverty level for a family of four. The President has always taken the position that he will expand the SCHIP program by $5 billion without raising taxes which constitutes a 20% increase in current spending on the program.

The leadership of the U.S. House has scheduled a vote to attempt to override the President’s veto for Wednesday, October 17^th. Please recall that the U.S. House voted 265 to 159 in favor of the final SCHIP bill which is 25 votes short of the 290 needed to override a presidential veto.

Call Your Representatives and Urge Them to Sustain the Veto

Don't rest on our laurels. You are strongly urged to call your U.S. Representatives and urge them to vote to sustain the President’s veto. One of the easiest ways to make this call is to dial one of the following two toll-free telephone numbers and you will be directly connected with your U.S. Representative’s office in order to leave your message with a staff person:

1-877-857-8074 or 1-866-527-4494

Representatives that voted against the SCHIP bill will be under a great deal of pressure to vote to override the President’s veto and they need support from you and your customers to sustain the President’s veto!