WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats have scrapped plans for another vote on expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), reported The New York Times. The legislation would expand SCHIP by $35 billion over the next five years, paid for by a 61-cent-per-pack federal excise tax (FET) tax increase on cigarettes and increases in the federal tax rates on other tobacco products.
Before the summer recess, Democrats had vowed repeatedly to force another vote on the popular program. But Democrats say they have shifted course after concluding that President Bush would not [image-nocss] sign their legislation and that they could not override his likely veto, said the report. The president vetoed two earlier versions of the legislation, and the House sustained those vetoes. House Democrats fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush's first veto last October, and they were 15 votes short when they tried again in January, said the report.
Congress has returned for a session expected to last three or four weeks. Lawmakers will focus on energy legislation, essential spending bills and efforts to revive the economy and to create jobs.
"We are not going to change any votes on the children's health insurance bill. We still don't have enough to override a veto," Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told the newspaper.
Democrats cited several reasons for their second thoughts about the wisdom of another vote on the child health bill. The cost of the bill has increased, according to the Congressional Budget Office, though the revenues expected from higher tobacco taxes are about the same. Under current rules, Congress would need to find a way to defray the extra cost.
Tobacco company representatives and advocates have been urging retailers to call or email their legislators and voice their opinions of the bill, according to CSP Daily News reports.
"It's not fair for adult smokers to bear the cost of programs that benefit everyone," stated an Altria Client Services and Philip Morris USA-based website—www.stopthefetincrease.com—set up to spread information about the plan and to make it easier to contact members of Congress. "In tough economic times like these, it just doesn't make sense to raise taxes."
It added, "The impact on a retailer's business could provide further incentive for smuggling and other contraband activities, such as counterfeit and illegal imports. To the extent that this activity follows from a federal excise tax increase, legitimate retailers stand to lose. Ultimately an FET increase could lead to lost jobs in the retail sector."
In August, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) coordinated a multi-prong strategy to oppose the tobacco tax increase. In one initiative, NATO legislative staff has been contacting association members to meet with targeted U.S. representatives that voted to sustain President Bush's veto of the SCHIP bill. The goal is to encourage them to continue their opposition to the cigarette and tobacco tax increases under the SCHIP legislation.
Another part of NATO's nationwide effort to oppose a third SCHIP bill involved sending a commentary letter-to-the-editor to 225 major newspapers in the home state districts of the 160 U.S. representatives that voted to uphold the president's veto of the SCHIP bill. With Congress returning from recess, the goal was to have the U.S. representatives read about the severe budget shortfall that the SCHIP program would encounter if the tobacco taxes are increased and to educate the public about the need for Congress to seek out alternative funding sources for the expansion of this program.
Click here to watch this week's edition of CSPTV, which focuses on SCHIP.
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