Bluey Blog - Official Blog of Robert B. Bluey

Democrats Lose Ground on SCHIP Vote

The “new” SCHIP bill suffered the same fate on the House floor today as its “old” counterpart. The Democrats’ plan to ram through a slightly modified version of the bill backfired when 141 Republicans stood united to oppose it. The final vote was 265-142, falling short of a veto-proof majority. The Democrats even managed to alienate one GOP supporter, Rep. Vern Ehlers (Mich.), who switched his vote because of the Democrats’ behavior.

As Paul Seale notes in his diary on RedState, there were multiple factors for today’s failure. As someone who has advocated for a solution rather than political pandering, I hope lawmakers can find a way to come to the table to find a viable solution. Then again, that would require Democrats to put poor kids ahead of politics.