Democrats and their allies mapped out a strategy on Friday that they hoped would enable them to override US President George W. Bush's expected veto of a bipartisan bill providing health insurance for 10 million children, most of them in low-income families.
Democratic leaders said they would highlight the contrast between the president's request for large sums of money for the Iraq war and his opposition to smaller sums for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "It's ironic that in the very same week that the president says he's going to veto the bill because we can't afford it, he is asking, what, for US$45 billion more over and above his initial request for the war in Iraq, money that we know is being spent without accountability, without a plan for how we can leave Iraq."
"This is all a matter of priorities: the cost of Iraq, US$333 million a day. The cost of SCHIP, US$19 million a day," Representative Edward Kennedy said.
The campaign for the legislation will also include grass-roots advocacy and political advertisements and will initially focus on about 15 House Republicans who voted against the bill. Supporters of the legislation hope to persuade them to switch.
But House Republican leaders said they felt sure they could sustain the veto and two lawmakers on the Democrats' list said in interviews that they would support the president.
The bill passed last week by the House and the Senate would provide US$60 billion for the program over the next five years, up US$35 billion from the current level of spending. On Wednesday, the administration said it would seek US$42 billion more for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing its total request to nearly US$190 billion for the next fiscal year, which begins tomorrow.
In an interview on Friday, House minority whip Roy Blunt said there was "a 100 percent probability" that the House would sustain the president's veto. But, Blunt said, the coincidental timing of the vote on the child health bill and the request for money in Iraq "was not helpful."
The White House, on the defensive, is trying to bolster Republicans who fear they might be penalized by voters if they side with the president.
"It is preposterous for people to suggest that the president of the United States doesn't care about children, that he wants children to suffer," White House press secretary Dana Perino said on Friday.
Perino said Bush had a policy difference with congressional Democrats because he did not want "additional government-run health care, socialized-type medicine."
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RSS