Stage Three

The article I have just finished reading on the Washington Post by Michael Fletcher, titled, "Bush Vetoes Children's Health Bill" is pretty self explanatory. Hours ago, in Lancaster, Pa, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have renewed and expanded the state-federal health insurance program for low-income children. President Bush’s reasoning behind this was to block a measure he has said is too costly and could lead to excessive government control of the health-care system.

Bush is apparently trying to hold a line on federal spending, and say’s, “the expansion of the program approved by Congress would extend our spending far beyond its original intent of covering poor children.” Bush, being politically isolated in his decision on this bill, in many views, is endangering the party's political prospects in 2008. The veto does not mean the program will end immediately. Bush and Congress have agreed to extend the current program though Nov. 16 while they try to work on a new version. A senator from Massachusetts said, “today we learned that the same president who is willing to throw away a half trillion dollars in Iraq is unwilling to spend a small fraction of that amount to bring health care to American children.” Bush also said in his speech today that he was not going to raise any taxes during the remaining sixteen months of his term.

I cannot say that I disagree with the President’s decision on this veto. I believe we need to edit the bill to where its main focus is enrolling more low-income children. I agree that the bill should be passed. I also believe that it will be passed, but it is not perfect, and there is no reason why we cannot work harder on making it better. I agree that the measure would push millions of children already covered by private health insurance into publicly financed health care. I think that no matter what decision the President would have made, people would still have negative feedback. The best decision was made. Congress will have more time to spend with the bill on improving it, and in time, it will be best for the country. If you recall back in 1996, under President Bill Clintons term, there was a welfare bill that was vetoed twice, and ended up being very successful. This example is actually discussed in the second article link.

I agree with the Presidents argument, and his decision to veto the bill. Like an English teacher, he has simply sent it back for an “edit”. Congress will turn it back into him once they are polishing out the flaws, and it will be passed. Here is a link to the article, so you can come to your own opinion on the matter…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/washington/03cnd-veto.html?hp
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
the second post takes you to the washington post. The article should be titled, "Bush vetoes children's health bill". It would not let me go to the article link after I read it for some reason, hopefully it will work for you after you find it.