Dems to Bush on health: Try 'right side of history'

[Mass]

Dems to Bush on health: Try 'right side of history'

by Mark Silva

As the Senate today prepares to adopt a major expansion of government-financed children's health care that the House already has approved -- and which President Bush vows to veto -- Democratic leaders are calling on Bush to get "on the right side of history.''

Since the State Children's Health Insurance Program was enacted in 1997 -- with the federal government paying 75 percent of the cost and states 25 percent -- about 6.6 million children of lower-income families have been enrolled. Congressional Democratic leaders, with the support of many Republicans, are offering coverage for another 3.8 million by allowing families earning up to three times the federal poverty level, $62,000 for a family of four, to enroll.

Bush calls it a "federalization'' of health care and vows to veto the bill.
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Calling on Bush to reconsider, Kerry today said, "There is time yet for the president to make a smart decision here… We ask the president to be on the right side of history and not stand up ideologically and partisanly''

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island said: "This legislation is an economic imperative… How can we expect children to go to school and learn if they are in poor health?… It’s also a moral imperative. We’re asking for the children of America what many take for granted, that their children have health care.''
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Posted by Mark Silva on

[hashibabba]

1. "There is time yet for the president to make a smart decision here…

There's also a first time for everything.