Dems Blow Override, Vow to Keep On Fighting
House Democrats managed to pick up a few more votes for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, but not enough to override the president’s veto. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to keep fighting for the overwhelmingly popular program: “In the next two weeks we will send the president another bill that insures coverage for 10 million children.”
Politico:
Republicans held the line Thursday in sustaining President Bush’s veto of the children’s health care bill, but Democrats plan to ramp up the pressure in a new bid to force a few Republicans to wilt on the next vote.
Democrats came up 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override in the House. But moments after the roll call, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) promised that “in the next two weeks we will send the president another bill that insures coverage for 10 million children.”
Just what will be different in the new measure remains to be seen, but Democrats have been hinting that they’ll make only modest changes — perhaps adding more firm income caps for program eligibility while more clearly banning benefits for illegal immigrants.