Earlier today I chided Senate Republican leaders for failing to take a different direction on SCHIP following President Bush’s veto. Whether that was fair or not, it won’t matter. Senate Democrats aren’t willing to talk — no matter what plan Republicans put forward. Here are the details from Roll Call ($):

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) closed the door to negotiations with President Bush on a vetoed children’s health bill Thursday, saying Congress already has given as much ground as it can.

“We’re not going to compromise,” Reid told reporters Thursday. “If he’s hoping for that, he better hope for something else, like getting our troops home from Iraq.”

Reid and other Democratic leaders said it would not be possible to secure House passage for any bill smaller than the $35 billion measure Bush vetoed Wednesday. The House originally proposed spending $50 billion over five years, but Bush has proposed spending only $5 billion in that amount of time. The president said Wednesday that he might be willing to add a “little more money” in talks with Democrats.

Reid flatly rejected that.

‚ÄúThat is an insult ‚Äî an insult. The House … basically took our position with very few changes. You cannot wring another ounce of compromise out of it,‚Äù Reid said. ‚ÄúIf he thinks he can waltz in here with his secretary of Health and Human Services and sweet talk us, he can‚Äôt. The man‚Äôs out of touch with reality.‚Äù

Note to Harry Reid: A compromise between the socialists in the Democratic Party and the liberals in the party isn’t a compromise.

This is just more proof that Democrats are using SCHIP to score political points against Republicans. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was caught lying about the program yesterday and now Reid is refusing to even talk about a solution. This is the sad state of Democratic politics in America.