Double, Double Toil and Trouble, Dems Burn, and Republicans Bubble...

 

House SCHIP override fails. The House today failed to override President Bush’s SCHIP veto. The final roll call was 273 to 156, falling 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed. This vote picked up eight supporters from the original House vote in September. After the vote, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) promised, "In the coming days, Democrats will not back down and we will insist on providing health care coverage to these 10 million children." Think Progress

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "The President's criticisms today only highlight that his Administration opposes the priorities of the American people and the New Direction Congress. While the Democratic Congress works to pass children's health insurance, to protect Americans while preserving civil liberties, and to end the disastrous Iraq war, the President chose to launch another partisan attack.

"The President's statements this morning, as with his past mischaracterizations about the children's health bill, distort and misrepresent the facts. The children's health bill is supported by advocates for children, leading voices of the medical community, enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support, and is fully paid for.

"There is no better example of why Washington is not working for the American people than the President claiming to seek common ground at the same time he is bitterly attacking Congress. Today's Presidential press conference perfectly illustrates who is standing in the way of progress for the American people." speaker.gov

Rep. Rangel: "Let me stand in a sense of bipartisanship, especially to my Republican friends, and to remind you that comes the next election, President Bush is going to be there at his ranch in Texas and he will not be with you at the polls. I say that because by that time, the truth will have caught up with the message that the President is giving, and most of you are using, to sustain the President's veto." speaker.gov

Rep. Shea-Porter: "As Senator Grassley wrote in a letter to the Washington Post, 'It's fine to have a philosophical debate over the merits of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. But opponents should be intellectually honest about what our bill does and doesn't do.' Despite this the President and a few supporters are still clinging to a series myths, distortions and spin to try to mislead the public. The president keeps talking about families earning as much as $83,000 a year. If this were true, I would have voted against this program. And as for the exception for New Jersey, the $72,000 was requested by a Republican Governor and approved by President Bush's administration." speaker.gov