Bush Vetoes Child Health Bill

President Bush today struck down a bipartisan compromise to expand a federal initiative providing care for children whose parents can’t afford it, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bush called the bill too costly, and said he would rather renew the current plan for five years; Democrats are unenthused, and said they will pursue winning enough House votes to override the veto.

The bill, reached in a compromise between Senate Republicans and Democrats in both houses, would raise the cigarette tax to renew and expand the State Children's Health Initiative Plan. The bill would have covered as many as 10 million children; Bush said he feared it would undermine private care by covering some middle-class children at the expense of poorer ones. (More children's health care stories.)