Fox's Garrett noted Boehner's plea for “bipartisan” approach to SCHIP, but not bill's bipartisan support

Written by Ben Armbruster

Published


On the October 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, reporting on President Bush's intent to veto a bill passed by Congress that would renew and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Fox News congressional correspondent Major Garrett reported that “House GOP leaders who vowed to sustain the president's veto accused Democrats of pursuing a strategy of blind confrontation” and then quoted House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) asking: “Why don't we work together in a bipartisan way to make sure that we get health insurance to lower-income kids who need it? Why does everything have to be a political game here in Washington, D.C.?” Yet Garrett did not mention that, in fact, Congress did pass the SCHIP bill “in a bipartisan way” -- 18 Republican senators and 45 Republican House members voted for it.

From the October 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

GARRETT: Congress sent President Bush a five-year, $35 billion expansion of the current State Children's Health Insurance Program and braced for a veto.

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER STENY HOYER (D-MD): The president does not like to pay for things. And maybe that is why he is opposed to this bill.

GARRETT: The bill raises the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents, leveling it an even dollar per pack. The White House opposes the cigarette tax, which it calls regressive, and attempts to expand health coverage to children of parents who earn, in some cases, more than $80,000 a year.

DANA PERINO (White House press secretary): People who smoke are usually ones -- the majority are in the low-income bracket. And so they're raising taxes on something to pay for a middle-class entitlement. It just -- it's just completely irresponsible.

GARRETT: Democrats said the public is in their corner.

HOYER: Once again, the Democratic Party finds itself aligned with over 70 percent of the American public, a very risky political stance for us to take.

GARRETT: House GOP leaders who vowed to sustain the president's veto accused Democrats of pursuing a strategy of blind confrontation.

BOEHNER: Why don't we work together in a bipartisan way to make sure that we get health insurance to low-income kids who need it? Why does everything have to be a political game here in Washington, D.C.?

GARRETT: Saddled with low approval ratings and repeated failures to change Iraq war policy, congressional Democrats will now challenge the White House and Republicans on spending at home versus spending in Iraq.