SCHIP Passes Again, Going To Get Vetoed Again
Once again President Bush is threatening to veto the SCHIP bill, despite the fact that the bill was changed to alleviate prior concerns with the bill.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- President Bush will veto a revised bill for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the White House said Thursday, as the new plan doesn't meaningfully address prior objections.
The revision still calls for a hike on tobacco product taxes to fund a $35 billion expansion over SCHIP's current $25 billion five-year funding baseline.
"Of course [Bush] would veto it -- in some ways this bill is worse than the previous bill," said Tony Fratto, White House spokesman. "It raises taxes on working Americans in order to move people from private insurance to public assistance. No tax increase of any kind is needed to fund this program."
Today's proposal passed by a margin of 265-142, but still isn't enough to override a veto.
Source: Bush threatens to veto revised health insurance plan - MarketWatch
2 comments:
Did I read this blog correctly? a $35 Billion expansion to a $25 billion program??
That's 140% expansion!! I had not heard that before.
I haven't seen details of the new bill, so I won't comment other than to say I have serious sticker shock at the increase.
I do have a comment about tobacco tax increase. First, I'm unaffected, so it doesn't bother me. In fact, it's not a tax on me, so I can't think of a better tax. Second, I think increased tobacco taxes will decrease the number of smokers (unfortunately, not by much) which is a good thing. However (third), I think it's very easy for the government to become dependent on a tax like this. At what point will the government begin to advertise cigarettes to increase revenue?
Lotteries do this all the time. They start promising no ads, then decide they need to place ads to increase revenue.
Somehow it bothers me when the government makes money off people doing bad things...
It does sound like a big expansion but I think they key thing is how many people it covers and making sure those covered need it.
As for the cigarette tax, I mostly agree with you (though I don't see the government advocating smoking anytime soon). It does seem wrong for the Government to tax people for doing bad things, but in this case I think about the children who'll develop things like asthma from secondhand smoke.
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