Poor kids don’t need insurance!  They need a bootstrap!

NEITHER fiscal restraint, nor the veto pen, has characterised President George Bush’s time in the White House. America continues to run a deficit, and Mr Bush has vetoed only three bills in his whole tenure. But now that he has a Democratic Congress to battle with, the president is promising to be tougher.

Mr Bush has said he will turn away a bill that would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a scheme that insures children from low-income families, which passed the House of Representatives on September 25th. He has also threatened to veto nine of the 12 appropriations bills that make up the federal budget, because the Democrats’ budget plan exceeds his own by $22 billion.

But SCHIP is extremely popular, and so is the bill that seeks to widen it to 4m more uninsured children. Since 1997, SCHIP has covered children in families that do not qualify for benefits under Medicaid, a programme for the very poor, but who still cannot afford health insurance. Under the scheme, the federal government gives a block grant to the states, which design their own benefits and eligibility criteria. The programme expires on September 30th.