The Political Chase

House Passes Revised SCHIP Bill

In a 265-142 vote, the House passed a revised version of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill today — the first revision since the president’s veto.  Two Republicans voting for the bill last time, voted against the current version.

The changes as reported by Roll Call (sub. req.):

Democrats aimed to address Republican criticisms over the $35 billion measure intended to cover 10 million children via several last-minute “clarifications.”

Among those changes, Democrats agreed to rapidly phase out the inclusion of childless adults from the program within a one-year period. The bill also seeks to limit the program to low-income children by prohibiting participation by families with incomes within 300 percent of the federal poverty level. In addition, changes also aimed to strengthen prohibitions designed to prevent illegal immigrants from participating in the program by requiring the Social Security Administration to confirm a participant’s residency status.

Republicans criticized Democrats for "rushing the legislation to the House floor without allowing lawmakers to review the revised bill first."

But Nancy Pelosi "defended the decision to advance the legislation, asserting that the House must act expediently for the bill to reach the president’s desk before the end of the calendar year. "

‘We’re holding the vote today because it fits into our legislative calendar,’ Pelosi said."

I agree with the Republicans with respect to having sufficient time to review the bill. How can anyone vote on a bill they haven’t had time to review? But it happens all the time. My best guess is Pelosi did not want arguments; instead she probably intended to put Representatives on the spot with a roll call where a negative vote would likely be could be viewed negatively by constituents.