House Fails to Override SCHIP Veto by 13 Votes

The U.S. House of Representatives fell 13 votes shy today of overriding President Bush’s SCHIP veto. The final vote was 273-156. Earlier in the week, House Democrats vowed to pass another SCHIP bill if veto override efforts fell short. President Bush has said that he’s willing to work with members of both parties in both the House and Senate to find additional money for SCHIP. (In fact, he was even willing to admit that putting poor children first might take “a little more” than a 20 percent increase in SCHIP funding. What a guy.) SCHIP is currently set to expire on November 16, 2007, so hopefully the Bush administration will get to working with Congressional leaders soon rather than later.