WASHINGTON -- By a vote of 68-31, the full Senate has approved a plan to renew and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), which provides health coverage to low-income, uninsured American children whose parents do not qualify for Medicaid.
The bill includes what the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) calls excessive and punitive tax increases on cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco and other tobacco products as a means of funding the program.
U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Chuck Grassley ([image-nocss] R-Iowa), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) crafted the $35 billion agreement intended to maintain coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered by the program and intended to bring health coverage to an additional 3.2 million uninsured American children in the next five years.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed its S-CHIP legislation by a 225-204 vote. Republicans called the bill the first step toward "socialized medicine," financed by an unfair tobacco tax increase, among other means. The House version of bill would enlarge S-CHIP by $47 billion over five years to provide coverage to the additional 5 million children.
The Senate version of the legislation calls for a 61-cent increase in the federal tobacco tax; the House bill would raise the federal cigarette tax by 45 cents a pack and raise the tax on other tobacco products.
The Senate needs to negotiate final legislation with the House before S-CHIP expires on September 30.
President Bush has vowed to veto the legislation because it goes too far in federalizing health care, according to his Statement of Administration Policy issued by the Office of Management & Budget (OMB). The Administration also strongly opposes the proposed tax increases contained in the legislation. The use of tax increases to fund spending increases is undesirable and inadvisable. The Administration is concerned about the negative impact on State budgets from the loss of direct revenue and the uncertain impact this may have on States and bondholders in relation to the tobacco Master Settlement Agreements.
NATO said it is planning the next phase of its grassroots advocacy effort, this time focusing on urging the president to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk because of the punitive cigarette and tobacco tax increases contained in the bill.
Click here to view the complete Statement of Administration Policy on the Senate bill.
Click here to view the complete Statement of Administration Policy on the House bill.
Click the Download Now button below to view a list provided by NATO of how senators voted on the Senate's S-CHIP legislation, as well as a list of how representatives in the House voted on its S-CHIP legislation.
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