Senate nears vote on kids' health bill By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

Senate nears vote on kids' health bill By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 25 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The Senate moved slowly Thursday toward passage of legislation to add 3 million lower-income children to a popular health insurance program, in bipartisan defiance of President Bush's threatened veto.

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Democrats pressed to complete the measure in time for the Friday start of their monthlong summer break, a prime opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of their new majority.

House Democratic leaders on Wednesday pushed through a more ambitious and expensive version of the health insurance legislation.

Senate passage would give Democrats, who were aiming for a a veto-proof vote, a chance to draw a stark distinction between their priorities and Bush's on a potent issue that resonates with voters.

Republicans are "going to face a choice with children's health: Are they going to turn their backs on three and a half million children in this country that don't have health care?" said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., the chairman of his party's campaign committee.

Bush has proposed spending $5 billion to extend the program. he says the Senate's $35 billion expansion would balloon the decade-old program beyond its original mission of covering working poor children, and inappropriately would move it toward government-run health care.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program expires Sept. 30.

Once passed, the Senate bill will have to be reconciled with the House-passed $50 billion expansion, which was paid for partly by cutting government payments to Medicare health maintenance organizations.

Both bills include hefty tax increases on tobacco products to pay for the spending increase.

The health program is designed to subsidize the cost of insurance for children whose families earn too much to participate in Medicaid, but not enough to afford private health insurance.

Through federal waivers, the program has expanded in many states to include middle-income children and adults. That has led Republicans to argue that it has become a backdoor way to extend government-provided health care to an increasing number of people.

National polls show overwhelming majorities of voters support expanding the children's health program and are more likely to support candidates who back it.