The New York Times reports in House Defies Bush and Passes Insurance Bill:
Supporters of the new bill said it addressed all the major concerns that prompted Republicans to oppose the earlier version. The measure, they said, would end coverage of childless adults, ban coverage of illegal immigrants and generally prohibit states from covering children in families with incomes above three times the poverty level — $61,950 for a family of four.
Ms. Pelosi said the restrictions on adults, illegal immigrants and high-income families were clear in the first bill and “are even clearer in the second bill.”
The Washington Post version includes this bit of information:
An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed that the new version of the children's health insurance bill did make some substantive changes that Republicans had demanded. Under both versions, the combined average monthly enrollment in SCHIP and Medicaid would be about 34.1 million people, according to the CBO. But there is a shift toward serving poorer children, a key Republican demand. In the new bill, Medicaid enrollment alone would be about 400,000 individuals higher than under the vetoed bill, while SCHIP enrollment would be about that much lower, according to CBO documents.
Almost half of the 3.9 million uninsured children projected to gain coverage under the revised bill would be covered under Medicaid, of whom about 80 percent live below the poverty level, said Genevieve Kenney, an Urban Institute health economist.
Getting more children health care coverage? The Democrats in Congress are working for it. The Republicans? Not so much.
CQ Politics reports Republicans Dig In Against Revised Children’s Health Bill. Having found themselves in a hole, they just keep digging:
Republicans forced repeated procedural votes, delaying progress toward passage.
Asked how long Democratic leaders could keep their own troops on hand to vote on Republican motions to adjourn, an aide to Democratic Conference Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., said, “Beats me. How long can they?”
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