SCHIP Set for Contentious Conference

Both the House and Senate passed their own versions of an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Listed as a top Democratic priority, Congress spent much of the summer working out the details of the expansion, including methods of paying for it. While both chambers have answered that question, there is disagreement over which method is better. When Congress comes back next week, leaders have less than a month for reconciliation, final passage, and a showdown with the White House over a threatened veto. Considering all the other items on the legislative calendar for next month, the chances of passing a bill the President will sign before the deadline are not good.

The first obstacle is to reconcile the various differences between the House and Senate version of the SCHIP reauthorization. The Senate bill contains a $.61 increase to the cigarette tax, bringing it to exactly $1.00. The House proposes a smaller increase of only $.45, but also includes spending cuts for Medicare Advantage, a program in which private managed-care plans provide benefits to seniors in place of the government. The cuts in the House bill would raise $157 billion over 10 years that, along with the tobacco tax increase, would pay for the increased expansion. Many Senate Republicans who voted in favor of SCHIP reauthorization say that they will not vote for a bill that includes cuts to Medicare Advantage. Southern Democrats in the House are reluctant to approve a larger tax increase.
While staffers are working on a compromise over the August break, the delicate situation is going to require full participation by the Members themselves. Therefore, no progress is likely until legislators return from the recess. Once they return, conferees need to find a compromise that can pass through both chambers.

If conferees reach a compromise and a conference report passes through both chambers, Congressional leaders still have to deal with a threatened Presidential veto. The White House called for a $5 billion expansion and has voiced opposition to the large increases proposed on Capitol Hill. While the Senate vote indicates it will have the 60 votes necessary to override a veto, the House fell far short of the 290 votes required to fight off a veto. If the conference report is able to pull in the additional votes in the House, conferees run the risk of alienating too many Republicans in the Senate, thereby taking away their ability to fend off the veto. At this same time, legislators have all twelve fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills to worry about, leaving a rough road ahead for SCHIP reauthorization.

Resources:
Stephen Langel, “Agreement on Expanding SCHIP Unlikely Before Sept. 30 Sunset, Sources Say,” Congress Now, August 13, 2007.
Author: SAS