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Congress passes kids health bill again |
NOv 2, 2007 - A defiant Democratic-controlled Congress voted Thursday to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children, and President Bush vowed swiftly to cast his second straight veto on the issue.
The legislation cleared the Senate on a vote of 64-30. It passed the House last week, but supporters were shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush's threatened veto. "We're convinced that the president has undermined an effort to protect children," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the vote."Congress has known for weeks that the President would veto this bill," White House press secretary Dana Perino countered in a statement shortly after the vote. "Now Congress should get back to work on legislation that covers poor children and stop using valuable floor time to make partisan statements." In a situation of unusual political complexity, Republicans dictated the decision to pass the legislation speedily. It appeared their goal was to short-circuit attempts by supporters of the bill to reach a compromise that could attract enough votes in the House to override Bush's veto. Attempts by Reid to delay final passage of the bill until next week or longer drew objections from the GOP. By DAVID ESPO - AP Special Correspondent |
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House OKs bill on child health |
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Oct 26, 2007 - The House on Thursday approved a revised children's health insurance bill that Democrats said addressed Republican concerns, but President Bush again threatened to veto it. The 265-142 tally fell short of the two-thirds needed to override a veto, but it raised the stakes in the political confrontation over children's health care. Both sides have moved in the direction of a compromise since the House failed last week to override Bush's veto of the original bill. Yet there have been no direct negotiations between the administration and the legislation's congressional supporters, and each side blames the other for the impasse. "If you feel as though we've been here before, it's because we have," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, an opponent. At issue is the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which now provides coverage to 6 million children nationally whose parents earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance. The state-federal partnership must be renewed this year. Congress approved a five-year, $60 billion bill that would have covered an additional 4 million children and given states the option of helping uninsured children in some middle-class families. Bush originally insisted on a $30 billion program, which analysts said would not have been enough to cover the current caseload. The administration wanted to limit eligibility to children in families making about twice the federal poverty level. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times |
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Bush vows to veto kids’ health insurance bill |
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Sep 22, 2007 - President Bush again called Democrats "irresponsible" on Saturday for pushing an expansion he opposes to a children's health insurance program. "Democrats in Congress have decided to pass a bill they know will be vetoed," Bush said of the measure that draws significant bipartisan support, repeating in his weekly radio address an accusation he made earlier in the week. "Members of Congress are risking health coverage for poor children purely to make a political point." In the Democrat's response, also broadcast Saturday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell turned the tables on the president, saying that if Bush doesn't sign the bill, 15 states will have no funding left for the program by the end of the month. At issue is the Children's Health Insurance Program, a state-federal program that subsidizes health coverage for low-income people, mostly children, in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private coverage. It expires Sept. 30. A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced a proposal Friday that would add $35 billion over five years to the program, adding 4 million people to the 6.6 million already participating. It would be financed by raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 per pack. The idea is overwhelmingly supported by Congress' majority Democrats, who scheduled it for a vote Tuesday in the House. It has substantial Republican support as well. - AP |
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NC lawmakers commit $50 million to build leading cancer center |
August 16, 2007 - They are names that inspire hope. Johns Hopkins. Sloan-Kettering. M.D. Anderson. To that list of world-renowned cancer care hospitals, North Carolina lawmakers are committed to adding one more: Lineberger.
Before leaving Raleigh for the year, the Legislature committed the state to investing $50 million annually - in perpetuity - in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The money is aimed at recruiting and retaining talented researchers, buying state-of-the-art equipment and expanding human clinical trials. Lawmakers also want to redouble prevention and screening efforts, in hopes of reducing the 41,000 people in North Carolina diagnosed annually with cancer and saving the 17,000 who die from the disease. "It is one of the most difficult journeys you can ever fight," said Melissa Blackwell, a 40-year-old divorced mother of two from Mebane and a Lineberger patient. She learned in June that her breast cancer had returned and now faces a mastectomy. "This money will help us fight a little longer, a little wiser, a little harder," she said. As North Carolina continues its evolution from a state born on tobacco and textiles to one growing on computer chips and biotechnology at its famed Research Triangle Park, state leaders believe there is also economic security in medical research and the jobs it can create. By Gary D Robertson
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N.C. approves new hospital for Brunswick |
May 2, 2007 - Novant Health received state approval Tuesday afternoon to build a new hospital in Brunswick County that's 18 beds smaller than its application sought.
Brunswick Community Hospital officials said they're not sure why the approval fell short of the 92 beds sought, but expect to learn more when the state's Division of Facilities Services office sends them more information within a week. "I assume they didn't demonstrate the need [for more beds]," said Craig Smith of the division office. He said he was not the one who reviewed Novant's application for the new hospital and didn't know the details. By Steve Jones, The Sun News |
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