Children's Health Care

The nation's governors, defying threats of a veto from President Bush, called on Congress Sunday to extend and increase a program to provide health insurance for poor children.

A bipartisan letter drafted and approved at the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association did not specify how much the current program should be expanded, but Democrats said it provided support for them as they battle the president over the issue.

Bush has made the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, the center of his campaign against "excessive" domestic spending. His budget allocates only $5 billion in additional money for the program in the next five years -- a sum that supporters of the program say is too small to cover even the 6.6 million children who are currently receiving help. The program helps families who do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot get private insurance on their own.

In recent statements, Bush has objected that some states have provided insurance for children in families making more than three times the poverty level, while other states have used the money to insure adults who have no children.

The Senate bill would restrict insurance to youngsters, but the president has argued that it expands SCHIP in a way that would induce some families to give up private insurance for a government stipend.