Catholic leaders say veto won't end efforts to insure poor children

Published: 2007-10-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic leaders who had urged an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program expressed disappointment at the House's Oct. 18 vote that fell short of overriding President George W. Bush's veto but said efforts to reach a compromise must not stop now. The House vote was 273-156, 13 fewer than the two-thirds majority needed to override. The Senate had already passed the legislation by a veto-proof majority. Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, decried the fact that "there were not enough House members willing to stand up for children and vote to override this ill-conceived veto of a bill that would have helped so many children without health insurance." The veto and the 156 House members who supported it "put the health of many of our nation's children at risk," he said in a statement. The legislation would have expanded funding for the program known as SCHIP by $35 billion over five years. Bush said the bill would have been a step toward socialized medicine and could have led many families to drop their private health insurance in favor of coverage by SCHIP.

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