    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [October 3, 2007]
    [Pages 1276-1277]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the House of Representatives Returning Without Approval the
    ``Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007''
    October 3, 2007

    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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