WASHINGTON — Faced with the likelihood that they will fall short in their effort to overturn President Bush's veto of a popular health insurance program for children, congressional Democrats are confronting a difficult choice about what to do next.
Should they come up with a cheaper, scaled-back version that Bush might accept? Or should they continue to press for the full $60-billion plan Congress has passed, hoping to pressure more Republicans into breaking from the White House?
The answer could determine whether a rare bipartisan collaboration around a healthcare issue in Congress breaks down into the kind of party-line stalemate that has dominated the congressional scene in recent years.
The override vote in the House is scheduled for Thursday. Some Republicans are expected to vote against Bush, but not enough to give the bill's supporters the two-thirds majority required to override a presidential veto.
At issue is the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a federal-state partnership that provides medical insurance mainly to children of the working poor.
If, as expected, the attempt to override Bush's veto fails, a leading Republican sponsor of the congressional plan said Tuesday that he would quickly move to start negotiations with the administration.
"Assuming we don't override the veto, then I am certainly going to try to bring us all together to see what we can do to resolve this," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah after a Capitol Hill rally urging House Republicans to override Bush's veto.
But many Democrats say they have already given away too much to come up with a bill acceptable to Hatch and other Republicans. It was this compromise bill that Bush vetoed.
Now, these Democrats say, they want to keep sending the congressional bill back to the White House again and again. That would wear down the opposition, they argue, by forcing Republican lawmakers to make politically unpopular votes as the 2008 election approaches.
"I would prefer another attempt in March or April of next year to see if we can get the votes for a program closer to what Congress approved," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), a leader on healthcare issues.
"Maybe the people who won't vote to override the veto now by the spring will come to the conclusion that the program is needed. They'll hear from constituencies," Waxman said.
