Attack on President Bush Delays SCHIP Veto Override Vote
Thursday , October 18, 2007
WASHINGTON ?
Democratic Rep. Pete Stark launched a shocking one-man assault on the Bush administration Thursday, interrupting floor debate before a failed attempt to override the president's veto of the so-called SCHIP bill to suggest that U.S. troops in Iraq are getting their heads "blown off for the president's amusement."
The vote to override President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program bill failed, 273-156, 14 votes shy of the number necessary.
Action on failed measure screeched to a halt when Republicans asked that remarks by Stark be "taken down," or stricken from the record. The objection, however, came too late and was made on less inflammatory remarks, and were therefore ruled within the boundaries of House decorum.
But House rules prohibiting personal attacks on fellow lawmakers or the president didn't stop Stark from lambasting Bush for his veto, and repeating his charge that the president would rather use government revenues to send U.S. children to war than to pay for low-income kids' health care.
A longtime war critic, Stark said the president couldn't find $35 billion to expand SCHIP but at the same time had requested an extra $200 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq.
"Where are you going to get that money? Are you going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old, enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement," Stark said.
"President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress. I urge my colleagues to vote to override his veto," he continued.
After the last statement, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., who was leading the floor debate, gently reminded Stark that personal attacks are not permitted. But Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, stood up and said the "general reminder" doesn't adequately chastise Stark.
"It is despicable to have a member of this Congress accuse the president, any president, of willfully blowing the heads, quote, 'blowing the heads off' our young men and women over in Iraq and Afghanistan," Brady said. "It is dead wrong, and it is beneath contempt as well that we will sit here silently and allow such a remark to be tolerated, accepted, if not embraced."
At the time, however, Brady did not call for the remarks to be "taken down," meaning they will be allowed to stand in the congressional record.
The fight came just before the House voted on whether to override the veto, an expected loss for Democrats who were unable ? despite two weeks of cajoling lawmakers in both parties ? to get any Republicans to switch their prior votes against the bill.
With 433 members of Congress likely to be present at Thursday's vote ? two seats are vacant as a result of members' deaths ? Democrats needed 290 votes, or two-thirds of present members, to override the veto.
Democratic leaders swore in Massachusetts special election winner Niki Tsongas in order to get one more vote. Tsongas won the election on Tuesday to replace Democrat Marty Meehan.
A high-level Democratic source told FOX News on Wednesday that Democrats had 276 votes ? that's 11 more than the original House vote of 265-159, in which 45 Republicans voted for the SCHIP bill, eight Democrats voted no and three Democrats missed the vote.
The 11-member difference suggests that Democrats were unable to get any Republicans to defect from their original vote.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Ohio, told FOX News that Republicans "should" have 100 percent attendance. Rep. Charlie Wilson of Ohio is in town despite emergency surgery last week; Rep. Barbara Cubin of Wyoming is back on a scooter after a multi-week absence to recover from a broken foot; and Rep. Bobby Jindal will be in the House despite running in a competitive race ahead of Saturday's Louisiana primary for the nomination to run for governor.
The vote comes after millions were spent on ads by groups supporting Democrats, hundreds of "protests" and pro-SCHIP events.
If the veto is sustained, lawmakers will have to enter into negotiations with the White House to cut a new deal with a president they have demonized for two weeks as something akin to a heartless tyrant.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she spoke with President Bush about a potential compromise during a ceremony for the Dalai Lama.
"Every time I get a chance to talk to the president, I try to make the case for America's children," Pelosi said
Anticipating the vote, Bush has assigned three top advisers to try to negotiate a new deal that would not involve a $35 billion spending increase to add almost 4 million more children and several hundred thousand adults to the insurance rolls.
Leading the discussions for his administration are Mike Leavitt, the health and human services secretary; Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council; and Jim Nussle, the White House budget chief.
Negotiations will not be easy, however. In the Senate, the veto could be overridden with 68 votes in support of the program. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has replied with an emphatic "no" when asked if he would seek a compromise with the administration.
Bush has recommended a $5 billion increase, bringing total spending over five years to $30 billion ? half the level called for in the bill that he vetoed. The president has said the measure that passed Congress encourages families with higher incomes to drop private coverage so that they can get their insurance paid for by the government.
Proponents emphasized that the program still would focus on low-income families. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said more than 90 percent of families covered have incomes are below $41,300 for a family of four. That is the range that the program was originally designed to help.
"There will be no wealthy people covered," Dingell said.
Some public opinion polls indicate support for expanding the program. Sixty-one percent said Congress should override Bush's veto of a bill expanding the program, according to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll released Wednesday. Blacks were more likely than whites to favor overriding Bush's veto.
FOX News' Major Garrett and Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
