Children’s health bill passes Senate

WASHINGTON – A defiant Democrat-controlled Congress voted Thursday to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children, and President Bush vowed swiftly to cast his second straight veto on the issue.

The legislation cleared the Senate on a vote of 64-30. It passed the House last week, but supporters were shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush’s threatened veto.

“We’re convinced that the president has undermined an effort to protect children,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the vote.

“Congress has known for weeks that the president would veto this bill,” White House press secretary Dana Perino countered in a statement shortly after the vote. “Now Congress should get back to work on legislation that covers poor children and stop using valuable floor time to make partisan statements.”

The veto-threatened measure would add an estimated 4 million beneficiaries to an existing program that provides coverage for children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. The program currently provides benefits to roughly 6 million children.

At a cost of $35 billion, the bill would be paid for through an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent rise on a package of cigarettes.

Bush vetoed an earlier children’s health bill this fall.

Democrats failed to override his veto on a vote of 273-156, 13 short of the two-thirds majority they needed.

Washington’s Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell voted for the bill.

Idaho’s Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo voted against it.