Congress urged to 'stand up for children' by overturning SCHIP veto

Published: 2007-10-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A top official of Catholic Charities USA called on Congress to "stand up to the president for our nation's children" by overturning President George W. Bush's veto of expanded funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP. Candy Hill, senior vice president for social policy at the Alexandria, Va.-based organization, spoke in an telephone news briefing Oct. 2, the day before Bush vetoed the legislation that has received wide support from religious, health care, labor and consumer groups. It was the fourth veto of Bush's presidency; he has said expanding the program by $35 billion would be a step toward socialized medicine and could lead many families to drop their private health insurance in favor of coverage by SCHIP. The Senate approved the legislation by a veto-proof vote of 67 to 29 Sept. 27. But supporters of the legislation said they hoped to find 19 votes in the House to reach the two-thirds needed to overturn a presidential veto. The original House vote Sept. 25 was 265-159. In a statement after the veto, Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, said Bush's action was "the wrong decision at the wrong time." "Census figures released only a few weeks ago showed that the number of children in America without health insurance is going up -- reaching 8.7 million in 2006 -- and this legislation would have taken an important step in reducing that number by extending health insurance coverage to several million more poor children," he added.

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