Children's Health Insurance bill heads for Obama's desk

Last Friday, the Senate passed their version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program with a 66-32 majority. The bill went to conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions; the final bill went back to the House today, where it passed by about the same number as January, 290-135, with 40 Republicans crossing party lines to support the bill, and 2 Democrats joining the majority of Republicans in opposition.

The Thomas site doesn't have the roll call information posted yet, but we're assuming that the same people voted the same as before. We know Pete Sessions voted against SCHIP again because he spoke out against it in this quote, which appeared in Associated Press:

"The Democrats continue to push their government-run health care agenda — universal coverage as they call it," said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.

If I was in Congress, I'd be careful about mocking "government-run health care," since members of Congress get a nice health care package--paid for by us, the taxpayer. Consumers are starting to wake up and say, "Why can't I get the same coverage as my representative?" In 2003, ABC did a phone poll on health care and found that a 2-to-1 majority of Americans favor some form of universal coverage over our current employer-based health care system. I'm guessing the numbers would be even higher today, considering the number of layoffs we've seen this year.

Pete Sessions votes against SCHIP

In September of 2007, Pete Sessions voted against SCHIP; yesterday, he did so again, voting against the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 along with 138 other Republicans. The bill passed 289-139, with 40 Republicans crossing over to vote with Democrats on the measure, and 2 Democrats voting against. Five Democrats and one Republican cast no vote.

For information on the bill, See HR 2; roll number information available at this link: Roll No. 16.