Bipartisan Support Mounts for SCHIP Expansion

Sept. 25, 2007 — -- White House officials claim they thought the president's showdown with Congress over further funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, would be a policy debate over expanding a government program.

Instead, with bipartisan support mounting for a compromise bill, in rhetoric and media coverage the SCHIP debate has become a fight over whether the president cares about sick kids.

The president has threatened to veto an expansion of the program from its current $25 billion level to $60 billion over five years, saying it would cost too much money, unnecessarily cover citizens who can afford private insurance, and increase taxes on "working people." Last week, President Bush cast the debate as "a philosophical divide that exists in Washington over the best approach for health care. Democratic leaders in Congress want to put more power in the hands of government by expanding federal health care programs. … I have a different view."

But Democrats made sure not to cast this divide in terms of anything other than whether or not one thinks ailing children should be cared for.

At a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stood with Jemma Frost, a 9-year-old girl whose recovery from a traumatic brain injury sustained in a car accident was due to funding from this program. Gemma is a "living example of the importance of SCHIP," Pelosi said. "Gemma, we want you to be healthy and happy and successful. That's why we are doing this."

"Mr. President, please don't veto this bill," Pelosi said to the assembled media. "Please don't give new meaning to the phrase 'suffer the little children.'"

Pelosi was referring to a passage in the New Testament Book of Mark in which Jesus admonishes his disciplines for turning away parents who want the son of God to bless their children. "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not," Jesus said, "for of such is the kingdom of God."

Bush has called for a five-year, $5 billion increase in SCHIP, which covers the children of low-income families not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but not wealthy enough to afford private health insurance. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a $50 billion increase; last month the Senate --