SCHIP Veto Should Be Sustained

"SCHIP is senseless," Cato's Michael F. Cannon writes in a recent article. "Like its much larger sibling, Medicaid, the program forces taxpayers to send their money to Washington so that Congress can send it back to state governments with strings attached. Both programs force taxpayers to subsidize people who don't need help, discourage low-income families from climbing the economic ladder -- and make private insurance more expensive for everyone else."

Bush vetoed the recent SCHIP reauthorization, and today on a White House conference call, Julie Goon, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, said the White House is confident the veto will be sustained and is hopeful the Democrats will then come to the table to negotiate a deal.