On Oct. 3, citing concerns about size and scope, President George Bush vetoed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization and expansion package (H.R. 976), which largely mirrored the Senate's original package of $35 billion and was passed by Congress after months of negotiations. Since the Senate has enough votes to override a presidential veto, the pressure is now on the House to garner the nearly two dozen votes it needs to secure a veto-proof margin. Democratic leadership has announced that only 13 more Republicans are needed to change their vote in order to overturn the measure. Two Republicans in the New York delegation, Reps. Tom Reynolds and Randy Kuhl, voted against the bill; in New Jersey, Republican Reps. Scott Garrett, Rodney Frelinghuysen, and Jim Saxton voted against the measure. A veto override date has been set for Oct. 18, 2007.         

In related news, New York State announced on Oct. 1 that it is filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for "violating provisions of the federal SCHIP, which provides affordable health coverage for children in families that cannot afford to buy private health insurance." The lawsuit is in direct response to the Aug. 17 directive that HHS issued that severely limits states' abilities to expand their children's health insurance programs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cited violations with the criteria in the directive as the basis for recently denying NYS's waiver expansion application. According to an announcement by the Spitzer Administration, Maryland, Washington, and Illinois will join New York in filing the lawsuit; Arizona, California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New Mexico will participate in litigation by filing amicus briefs. 

Also of note, Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) filed a separate lawsuit on Oct. 1 against the Bush Administration on the SCHIP directive on the grounds that the public rule-making process was circumvented by fundamentally and arbitrarily changing the program through a letter rather than through the formal regulation process.  

GNYHA will continue to work with its regional and national partners to advocate for the critical reauthorization and expansion of this vital program.