Bush Asks For Short-Term SCHIP Extension Bill

House members may not get to vote on a streamlined State Children’s Health Insurance Plan bill Sept. 25 after all.

The law authorizing SCHIP is set to expire Sept. 30.

Lawmakers have spent weeks trying to hammer out differences between the House SCHIP extension bill, which includes $50 billion in new funding along with Medicare Advantage regulations and funding cuts, and the Senate extension bill, which includes only $35 billion in new funding and no significant Medicare Advantage regulations and funding cuts.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, earlier today was telling fellow Democrats that they soon would be voting on a compromise version of the bill that would be similar to the Senate bill.

But House negotiators insisted on keeping the House Medicare Advantage provisions, and talks have broken down, congressional staffers report.