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WASHINGTON : US President George W. Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation expanding a healthcare programme mostly aimed at poor children, a politically risky move ahead of the November 2008 elections.
The president's Democratic foes, unable to curtail the unpopular war in Iraq, have seized on his opposition to their plan to build up the State Children's Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP) as a potent political weapon.
Bush's top Republican allies have declared they have the votes to prevent the US Congress from overriding his veto - even as some rank-and-file have worriedly surveyed a political landscape dominated by the war.
About 72 percent of Americans back the measure, according a recent public opinion poll by the Washington Post and ABC television. The survey had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.
Aware of the potential political costs, Bush formally rejected the bill behind closed doors at the White House, with a junior aide announcing the move over the loudspeakers in the media workspace.
It was just the fourth time the president used his veto power since taking office in January 2001. US voters will decide their next president and control of the US Congress in the November 2008 elections.
Democrats immediately pounded Bush, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accusing him of "denying healthcare to millions of low-income kids" and vowing to "fight hard" to win the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto.
"With today's veto, President Bush has turned his back on America's children and he stands alone," Reid charged in a statement.
The White House had opposed the bill as a step towards socialised medicine, and complained that it would be too expensive induce some families now using private insurers to switch to government-funded coverage, while embracing a significantly more modest expansion of the programme.
"He wants to make sure that the neediest children are covered first," spokeswoman Dana Perino said just before the veto."But he does want to work with members of Congress to see if we can find common ground.
SCHIP, a programme jointly managed by the states and Washington, subsidises health insurance for roughly 6.6 million people, most of them children, who fall in the gap between being able to pay for private care and being eligible for another government health care programme, Medicare.
The Senate passed the SCHIP programme in September with 67 members of the 100 member chamber voting for it - enough to override a veto, while the margin was not as wide in the House of Representatives.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the programme would allow 4.4 million more children to enrol in the programme.
The cost of 35 billion dollars over five years would be offset by raising the tax on a packet of cigarettes by 61 cents to one dollar. - AFP/de
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