Ensuring His Relevancy

Bet you've forgotten all about SCHIP, the bipartisan legislation that would have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance (SCHIP) program by $35 billion over five years and boosted its enrollment to about 10 million children, which Shrub vetoed in early October, at which time he uttered the immortal words I've posted in our Quote of the Day Sidebar. (Update: As the quote of the day has now changed, I'm inserting the immortal words into the post here:

That’s why the president has a veto. Sometimes the legislative branch wants to go on without the president, pass pieces of legislation, and the president can then use the veto to make sure he’s a part of the process. And that’s what I fully intend to do. I’m going to make sure. And that’s why when I tell you I’m going to sprint to the finish, and finish this job strong, that’s one way to ensure that I am relevant. That’s one way to ensure that I’m in the process. And I intend to use the veto)

Well, in what is evidently an attempt to further enshrine his continuing relevancy, he vetoed the legislation again yesterday, and the reason you may not have heard too much about it is that he did so, as he did the first time - in private. After all, one doesn't wish to look like The Grinch Who Stole Children's Healthcare in too public an eye, might cut down on the relevancy to a certain extent.

So, the relevant question for millions of families now seems to be: What Next? Authorization for SCHIP expired on Sept. 30 and has twice been extended by Congress. The second extension is due to expire on Dec. 14 (tomorrow), and no one is sure what will happen next.

The fate of this critical program remains undecided, as lawmakers negotiate a new five-year funding package that can win Bush's approval or draw a veto-proof majority in the House and Senate. If Congress cannot win over Bush's support, leaders from both parties are expected to "pass a one-year extension of the program" with the aim of including "enough money in the measure to maintain current levels of enrollment, estimated at 6.6 million children. While campaigning in 2004, Bush pledged, "In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government's health insurance programs." Now, Bush has become the one man standing between 10 million low-income children and their health insurance. (Bush Vetoes Kids, Again)

Well, I guess it's one way to go down in the history books. Not that The Decider doesn't already have his place in Infamy well staked out. More info on this story in this article in today's Washington Post.

Technorati Tags: Bush, Congress, SCHIP, presidential relevancy, veto

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