[House Document 110-62]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                     

110th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - House Document 110-62
 
                            VETO OF H.R. 976

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

    HIS VETO OF H.R. 976, THE ``CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM 
                     REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007''




 October 3, 2007.--Message and accompanying bill ordered to be printed
To the House of Representatives:
    I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 976, the 
``Children's Health Insurance Program: Reauthorization Act of 
2007,'' because this legislation would move health care in this 
country in the wrong direction.
    The original purpose of the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program (SCHIP) was to help children whose families 
cannot afford private health insurance, but do not qualify for 
Medicaid, to get the coverage they need. My Administration 
strongly supports reauthorization of SCHIP. That is why I 
proposed last February a 20 percent increase in funding for the 
program over 5 years.
    This bill would shift SCHIP away from its original purpose 
and turn it into a program that would cover children from some 
families of four earning almost $83,000 a year. In addition, 
under this bill, government coverage would displace private 
health insurance for many children. If this bill were enacted, 
one out of every three children moving onto government coverage 
would be moving from private coverage. The bill also does not 
fully fund all its new spending, obscuring the true cost of the 
bill's expansion of SCHIP, and it raises taxes on working 
Americans.
    Because the Congress has chosen to send me a bill that 
moves our health care system in the wrong direction, I must 
veto it. I hope we can now work together to produce a good bill 
that puts poorer children first, that moves adults out of a 
program meant for children, and that does not abandon the 
bipartisan tradition that marked the enactment of SCHIP. Our 
goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to 
private coverage, not to move children who already have private 
health insurance to government coverage.
                                                    George W. Bush.
    The White House, October 3, 2007.
    
    
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