On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

As expected, the U.S. House upheld President Bush’s veto of the bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program today, and the reaction is starting to come in.

Reps. Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack, Iowa Democrats, called it a disappointing result and said it’s a moral imperative to insure kids. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called the vote “deeply disturbing.”

Rep. Steve King, the Republican who represents the west side of the state, also pulled no punches in defending his vote to sustain the veto.

His own name for SCHIP is drawing some national attention, too. Says King: ”SCHIP stands for Socialized, Clinton-style Hillarycare for Illegals and their Parents.”

The quote is toward the top of the Washington Post’s story on the failed override today.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who brokered the compromise bill and pushed for the veto override, took a different approach. Grassley, ever the farmer, is going back to the drawing board.

“The stage is set to continue working on a bicameral, bipartisan approach that can do one of two things, either get a presidential signature or enough votes in the House of Representatives,” he said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 12:45 pm and is filed under On The Campaign Trail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.