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Originally Posted by JohnBua
I thought Bush killed this bill cause it covered families that make up 83k a year. And Bush said, " find me a bill that covers the poor, not those making so much money and I will sign that."
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Bush lied when he vetoed the bill....surprise
It does not cover families with income up to $83k. The existing program covers families with income up to twice the poverty level (the current poverty level is $18,000 for family of four). The bill he vetoed would extend it to three times the poverty level (up to $54k in states that request that extended coverage). The $83k number tossed around by those opposed to the bill refers to a waiver for a very small number extraordinary cases of catastrophic need in a very limited set of circumstances in one or two states.
Bush wants to increase funding for the program by $5 billion (with no increase in number of eligible children) over 5 years and the bill passed by Congress increased funding by $35 billion over 5 years to add 4 million children to the program.
They are likely to compromise somewhere in the middle.