Congressman bashes
Bush’s veto decision

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy said President George W. Bush didn’t know what a veto pen was during his first six years in office.
Bush generally got what he wanted from a Republican-controlled Congress, but Democrats gained control of the Senate and House of Representatives after the last election.
As part of their agenda, Democrats are pushing an expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Over the next five years, they want to add $35 billion to the program. Bush backs an increase of $5 billion.
Under the Democrats’ proposal, the number of youngsters covered by CHIP would rise from 6.6 million to 10 million. In Pennsylvania, the figure would grow by 140,000, from 165,000 to 305,000.
The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 67-29 and the House, 265-159.
Bush is unhappy because the Democratic bill would take some children off private insurance plans and onto government rolls. So, on Oct. 3, he vetoed the bill.
Murphy said Bush should not have taken out his veto pen.
"He’s using it now against children without health care," he said.
The Senate has the votes to override a veto, but the House does not. In his Oct. 6 radio address, Bush indicated he’d be willing to spend more than $20 billion in a compromise.
But House Democrats are intent on holding an override vote on Thursday, Oct. 18. The original vote was largely along party lines, with 45 Republicans in support and eight Democrats in opposition.
Democrats are trying to rally support for an override leading up to the vote. Murphy, who held a news conference on Friday afternoon outside Lower Bucks Hospital, said a good first step would be to change the minds of the three Pennsylvania Republicans — Reps. Joseph Pitts, John Peterson and Bill Shuster — who opposed the bill.
Among those at the news conference was Bill Schofield, president and CEO of United Way of Bucks County, who will join the agency’s statewide affiliates in lobbying Pitts, Peterson and Shuster.
Schofield said his organization supports efforts to get children ready for school by age 6.
"A big part of that is access to health care," he said. "It’s every bit as important as literacy."
Murphy held his 10-1/2-month-old daughter Maggie as he spoke. The girl was born at Lower Bucks.
Also in attendance were medical professionals and children.
Murphy backs the CHIP expansion because it would help children who do not qualify for Medicaid. The bill would also be financially responsible, he said, because it’s paid for by an increase in the federal cigarette tax.
The congressman said the expansion is necessary so children without health care can obtain coverage.
"A hundred and forty-thousand kids in Pennsylvania are not as lucky as Maggie Murphy and these kids," he said. ••