GOP seeks breakthrough on health bill

GOP seeks breakthrough on health bill

	Published : Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:40 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday they might defy a White House veto if they can agree to change a much-disputed children's health bill in ways acceptable to many of their party colleagues.

Their comments were the clearest sign yet that even President Bush's most loyal House allies are eager for an end to the impasse, which many Republicans see as politically damaging to the GOP.

Thus far, they have solidly backed Bush's veto of a Democratic-led bid to increase the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion. But the leaders' remarks Tuesday signaled a limit to such loyalty and a possible break with Bush if he opposes an eventual compromise--which is by no means certain--that might win the backing of substantially more House Republicans.

When House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, was asked if he might support a bill that the president would not sign, he replied: 'That's always a possibility.'

In a similar vein, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he would 'have to see the bill' before deciding.

The Senate, which now is considering the bill, was scheduled to hold a procedural vote late Wednesday, which would allow little time for negotiations. Democratic leaders offered a two-week postponement, but Republicans rejected it.

Boehner and Blunt are the House Republicans' top two leaders, and they have managed to keep most of their colleagues in Bush's corner during the sometimes bitter debate over the children's health issue. Partly because of their efforts, the House twice has fallen short of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush's veto of the legislation.

The bill's supporters need to add only about a dozen House Republicans to the 44 who voted Oct. 18 to override Bush's veto. If ongoing negotiations can gain that number, and ideally a lot more, then GOP leaders could embrace the deal regardless of the president's stance, Boehner's and Blunt's comments indicated.

Then the House and Senate would be poised to override another Bush veto, largely isolating the administration on a major domestic issue.

Lawmakers in both parties and both houses differ over how to expand the decade-old health program, designed for working-class families ineligible for Medicaid but unable to afford health insurance.

Bush, and most House Republicans, want to eliminate or reduce participation by adults, illegal immigrants and families earning more than $62,000 or so. Bush also objects to the bill's proposed sharp increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco, although many congressional Republicans have signaled they could accept it.

Boehner said of the disagreement with Bush over how to pay for the program's expansion: 'He has his position. The House Republicans have their position.'

House Democratic leaders last week said they had addressed many criticisms of the bill, and put the revised version to a vote. Most Republicans, encouraged by Boehner and Blunt, rejected the changes, which some called politically motivated.

The bill passed, 265-142. Opposition from 141 Republicans kept it from reaching a two-thirds majority.

The Senate gave the legislation a veto-proof majority from the start. Negotiators there hope lawmakers can reach a compromise that would win a two-thirds majority when the bill returned to the House, with or without Bush's blessing.

Blunt said he wants a compromise 'that a significant number of our members can be for,' not just a bare minimum to produce a two-thirds majority with Democrats' help.

Options being debated include: requiring applicants to show proof of citizenship or legal status beyond a Social Security card; eliminating all adults, including low-income parents, from the program; and limiting states' ability to make more middle-income families eligible by ignoring some portions of their income, such as child support payments.

Some lawmakers warned that House liberals might abandon the bill if they feel it becomes too restrictive.

Some senior Republicans, meanwhile, insist on big changes. The House's revised bill, said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is worse than the first. 'It costs more, insures less' and 'still has a massive tax increase,' he told reporters Tuesday.

It contains 'provisions that would provide an express lane to illegal immigrants to get their children on the health insurance program,' Lott said.

The bill's supporters dispute such claims. The overwhelming majority of enrolled children are U.S. citizens from low-income families, they say.