Senator Pat Roberts Against Bush Veto On Health Care

Tampa Florida Health Care

The Senate has passed the bill to increase funding for state SCHIP programs. Over 10 million more children will now have health coverage. Will Bush Veto this bill? Senator Pat Roberts think a Veto of this bill will do no good. What do you think?

New York Times) Senate Passes Children’s Health Plan: The Senate gave final approval on Thursday to a health insurance bill for 10 million children, clearing the measure for President Bush, who said he would veto it. The 67-29 vote followed a series of speeches by Republican senators supporting the bill and urging Mr. Bush to reconsider his veto threat. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, one of 18 Republicans who voted for the bill, said the White House had shown “little if any willingness to come to the negotiating table.”
(Reuters) Congress sends kids health care to Bush: But Bush's threat to veto the children's health care bill has angered some of his own Republicans. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas said Bush should "rethink" his veto threat and sign the bill. "This bill and this debate has turned into a political showdown," Roberts said during the Senate debate. "Unfortunately, low-income children will be the ones who will ultimately pay the price."
(LA Times) Allies push Bush to pass children's insurance: On the Senate floor, some of the sharpest challenges to Bush's position came from Republicans. The bill's GOP supporters said the administration was misinformed -- and even misleading the public -- when it argued that the bill's provisions for extending aid upward to families far from the poverty line would put the nation on a slippery slope toward socialized medicine. "The administration is threatening to veto this bill because of 'excessive spending' and their belief that this bill is a step toward federalization of healthcare," said Sen.Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), a supporter of the plan. "I am not for excessive spending and strongly oppose the federalization of healthcare. And if the administration's concerns with this bill were accurate, I would support a veto. But, bluntly put, they are not."