Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote to override Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act.

The SCHIP Reauthorization Act of 2007 calls for an expansion of the program, adding $35 billion over the next five years to guarantee coverage to 10 million American children. The reauthorization act, if passed, will improve the quality of low-income health care, benefits and outreach tools.

This is the fourth veto President Bush has issued during his presidency, which has created national debates on the topic.

For Congress to override Bush’s veto, both the House and Senate must have a two-thirds vote. The Senate passed the SCHIP Reauthorization Act with a veto-proof majority, while the House was short 24 votes for a veto-proof majority.

The SCHIP is a decade old program that was created to help cover children whose families’ incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private health insurance.

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