Tuesday, 23 October 2007
House Republicans Request To Meet With Speaker Pelosi
Now that the bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been vetoed — and sustained in the U.S. House of Representatives — Republican lawmakers in the House are reaching out to the Democrats in hopes of passing a compromise bill.
Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Minority Whip Roy Blunt recently asked Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to sit down together and draft a new SCHIP bill.
“On Sept. 19, we sent you a letter expressing our interest in working with you to craft a responsible, bipartisan [SCHIP] bill the president will sign into law. We are still awaiting a response to our letter and have yet to be included in any discussions thus far,” wrote Boehner and Blunt in a new letter to Pelosi.
“We stand ready and willing to meet at a time of your choosing,” they added.
Boehner and Blunt have co-sponsored SCHIP legislation that would provide coverage for only children in families with incomes of less than 200% of the federal poverty level. For children in families that earn an income of 200% to 300% of the poverty level would receive tax credits, reported the Kaiser Network.
But the Speaker of the House has said that she intends to send another bill to the president’s desk soon.
“In the next two weeks, we intend to send the president another bill that provides healthcare for 10 million children,” said Pelosi after the veto was upheld in the House.
She also said she wanted to meet directly with President Bush to negotiate, reported the New York Times.
“We intend to sit down with the president any time he is ready. We hope that will be soon.” said Pelosi.
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