Blunt: House Sustains President's Veto, Now Let's Get to Work on Genuin...( WASHINGTON Oct. 18 -- House Repu...),Health

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement today after the House sustained the president's veto of legislation expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to children from families who earn as much as $83,000 a year:

"Today's vote brings to a close what's been a disappointing chapter on SCHIP, with Democrats devoting every bit of their energy to scoring political points, and none of it toward working with Republicans to craft an appropriate compromise that can be signed into law.

"A funny thing is starting to happen, though, as the majority takes its victory laps and continues to exploit the program for partisan political purposes: more and more Americans are beginning to take a closer look at what they're trying to do. And the more they learn, the less they like.

"The president's veto now formally sustained, Democrats have before them a simple choice: Either sit down with Republicans to reauthorize SCHIP in a way that ensures health care funding for poor kids, or toss the policy considerations aside in favor of a strictly partisan, willfully inflexible approach.

"If the majority's overriding concern rested with the health and well being of our nation's children, its decision on what to do next would be easy to predict. As it is, unfortunately, it's anyone's guess."

NOTE: A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 52 percent of Americans believe that most benefits under SCHIP should go to children in families earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $41,000 for a family of four.