Congress to Tackle Child Health Insurance Veto

Some of the most significant Congressional activity will take place off the floor of the House and Senate this week as lawmakers begin delicate negotiations over resurrecting the vetoed children’s health insurance bill.

Backers of the bill from both parties will be meeting among themselves and with some Republicans to consider how to tinker with the legislation to either eliminate the objections of President Bush or win enough new Republican support to override a second veto. It’s a complicated situation. Democrats are willing to make some changes to eliminate the chief criticisms of the legislation, but they do not want to go too far in ways tht would either reduce the number of new children to be covered under the measure or be seen as caving to the White House. Republicans are eager to put the politically charged fight behind them and would like to find a way to support the legislation. But they can’t completely surrender their objections or it will seem as if they initially opposed the bill for no good reason.

House Republican leaders have sent clear signals that eliminating the ability of states to enroll children in families earning more than $80,000 would be a good start even though backers of the legislation say the White House now has the power to prevent such an expansion of the coverage.

“If we could deal with that issue, that would be a significant step on the bill,” said Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican in the House, warning that other steps might be needed.

Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic whip, said expressly prohibiting coverage from being extended to families at that income level was one of the ideas under consideration.

“I suspect that that is one of the things that we would be taking a look at in order to try to bring some resolution,” he said. “So long as we can maintain the intentions to cover 10 million children, everything else will be under discussion.”

House Democrats have another dicey issue to deal with – bringing back to the floor a proposal on terror surveillance. Democrats pulled the measure last week when Republicans employed a procedural move to cut into Democratic support. Party leaders have vowed to bring the bill back this week, but they haven’t set a day because they want to be sure they have sufficient votes to pass the bill.

Mr. Clyburn, speaking on the House floor at the end of last week, also said the leadership might soon have an announcement on the fate of a resolution condemning the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century. Backers of the bill began to abandon it last week out of fear of a backlash from Turkey, a strategic ally of the United States in the war in Iraq.

The House is also scheduled to consider a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on sexual orientation. The measure has split the gay rights community, with some arguing that the bill should include transsexuals. An amendment to include those individuals is expected to be offered on the floor, but Representative Barney Frank, the openly gay Democrat from Massachusetts, said he expects it to fail.

In the Senate, lawmakers intend to finish a major labor and health spending bill as Congress moves steadily toward next month’s showdown with the White House over spending. Lawmakers hope to also put the finishing touches on a major farm bill so it can be brought to the floor next week.

By Carl Hulse, New York Times, October 22, 2007

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