US President Bush vetoed a bill to expand a children’s healthcare insurance scheme, after it was passed with a large majority (67-29) in the Senate. Congress had approved the bill by 265-159. It is only the fourth time Bush has used his veto power in the course of his presidency. The vetoed bill proposed higher tobacco taxes (up to $1 from 61c) to provide an extra $35 billion to insure about 10 million children. Bush’s rationale was that it might help children who are not really poor.
Bush’s decision to block the legislation is likely to prove unpopular with many people. A Washington Post/ABC News poll suggested that more than 7 in 10 Americans supported the $35 billion increase proposed in the bill. Commentators have drawn a parallel with the administration’s request for $190 billion funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008 – “The president has asked for an open-ended, open-wallet commitment to Iraq, and the American children get an empty stocking”.
This is another clear sign of where the US administration priorities are and again raises the issue of US political corruption.
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