Governors Call On Congress to Widen Insurance for Poor

Bipartisan Letter Runs Counter to Bush

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., July 22 -- The nation's governors, defying threats of a veto from President Bush, called on Congress Sunday to extend and increase a program to provide health insurance for poor children.

A bipartisan letter drafted and approved at the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association did not specify how much the current program should be expanded, but Democrats said it provided support for them as they battle the president over the issue.

Bush has made the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, the center of his campaign against "excessive" domestic spending. His budget allocates only $5 billion in additional money for the program in the next five years -- a sum that supporters of the program say is too small to cover even the 6.6 million children who are currently receiving help. The program helps families who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot get private insurance on their own.

The Senate Finance Committee agreed on a bill allotting an additional $35 billion for the insurance program, and House Democrats are discussing a $50 billion increase over five years.

The governors' letter did not endorse either figure but said the program should be reauthorized before Sept. 30, when the current program expires, with a guarantee of flexibility for states in designing their own programs.

The letter was sent to congressional leaders and to the president and said that "the authorization for this critical safety net program will soon expire and urgent action is needed to ensure its continued success for the next five years." It added: "For many reasons, defaulting to a series of temporary extensions of the program would be untenable for states and the millions of children who rely upon the program."

The bill that came out of the Senate Finance Committee last week, with support from all of its Democratic members and several Republican members, calls for financing the additional insurance program spending by raising the federal excise tax on cigarettes from 30 cents to $1 a pack.

The governors' letter did not explicitly endorse the cigarette tax but said, "We are encouraged by the Senate Finance Committee efforts to move a bipartisan re-authoritative bill that provides increased funding and reflects the general philosophy that state flexibility and options and incentives for the states are preferable to mandates."

The letter was signed by two Democrats, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, chair of the National Governors Association, and Jon Corzine of New Jersey, chair of the association's Health and Human Services Committee. Republicans signing the letter were Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, vice chair of the association, and Jim Douglas of Vermont, vice chair of the association's health committee.

The letter was discussed at a closed-door lunch with three dozen governors on Sunday. Pawlenty, who is beginning a year-long term Monday as chairman of the association, said it represented a "bipartisan consensus" that action is needed before Congress goes on recess in August.

Gov. John Lynch (D) of New Hampshire said the governors were told by staff experts at the lunch that it would take $14 billion over the next five years to "hold harmless" all the states that have responded to Bush administration invitations to be innovative in their use of the insurance program money to expand the list of beneficiaries.

In recent statements, Bush has objected that some states have provided insurance for children in families making more than three times the poverty level, while other states have used the money to insure adults who have no children.

The Senate bill would restrict insurance to youngsters, but the president has argued that it expands SCHIP in a way that would induce some families to give up private insurance for a government stipend.