President Bush has vetoed H.R. 976, a bill that would have extended the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The law that has authorized SCHIP expired Sunday.
Bill supporters, including insurance groups, have argued that the extension was important to protecting the ability of children to get regular, timely access to health care.
Bush declared Monday, in a proclamation designating the day as Child Health Day, 2007, that SCHIP is important and ought to be reauthorized, but he says H.R. 976 was too expensive.