Recently, President Bush vetoed legislation that would have expanded the State Children
Health Insurance Program – SCHIP. The bill which had been approved by Congress with
strong bipartisan support would have increased enrollment in the popular government
provided health insurance program from 6 million children to 10 million. The president told
us that he vetoed the bill because it was too costly, and that it would be a step toward
federalization of health care. Several months after the veto, reacting to the Wall Street
crisis, president Bush quickly sprang into action and signed into law the “Emergency
Economic Stabilization Act,” the measure authorizing the expenditure of $700 billion to
bailout the tottering financial industry. This time Bush expressed no concern regarding the
bailout’s high cost to the federal government and the socializing of the financial industry’s
losses. Simply put, Bush believes in coming to the aid of the rich when they are faced with
an economic crisis, regardless of cost, but resists doing so when such aid would benefit
the truly needy.