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Hernando child health care advocates push for Bush veto override

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

10/04/07 © Florida Health News
Brooksville—Despite a heavy rain, local children’s health care and peace advocates gathered outside the Brooksville office of U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite Thursday to urge her to vote to override Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Heath Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion bill.

The MoveOn.org sponsored event brought out members of the Florida Peace Action Network, the Hernando Green Party and others to advocate for healthcare not warfare.  T-shirts with slogans such as "Every Child Left Behind" were strung on a clothesline.

Bush on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan plan to spend $35 billion over the next five years to expand SCHIP to reach an additional 4 million children nationwide and about 230,000 in Florida.  Currently, about 6.4 million children are covered nationally by the SCHIP.

Bush said in a speech Wednesday that he was open to a compromise to spend “a little more money” to help the nation’s poorer children. But, the New York Times reported, he did not make a specific offer, and is suggesting that only $5 billion more be spent on the program.

Although the bill had bipartisan support, indications are that there are not enough votes to override the President’s veto. Democrats have vowed a veto showdown October 18 and hope to seek enough Republican for an override.