The fight over expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is “the biggest domestic policy clash” of the Bush presidency and “will reverberate into the 2008 elections,” proclaims the front page of this morning’s Washington Post.
As expected, the Senate last night followed the House’s lead and passed a bill to expand the program to cover millions more children at a cost of an additional $35 billion over five years. The increase would be funded largely by higher taxes on cigarettes. The president has promised to veto the bill on the grounds that it would unduly expand the role of government in health care. And that threat, despite the widespread popularity of the measure, is leading some prominent Republicans to break ranks with Bush.
“I am very disappointed that before the administration even received the final language, their minds were apparently made up and a line was drawn in the sand opposing this compromise,” said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), the WaPo reports.
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