WASHINGTON — President Obama signed legislation Wednesday to expand publicly funded health insurance for children, marking a historic shift in Washington's political landscape and providing the White House its biggest victory since Obama took office.
Less than two years ago, former President George W. Bush blocked similar bills by congressional Democrats, labeling the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program as a step toward government-run healthcare.
But with Democrats now firmly in control of the White House and Congress, the party's leaders easily pushed through a $33-billion bill that is expected to provide government-subsidized insurance to 4 million mostly low-income children.
That would reduce the number of uninsured children in America by about half over the next 4 1/2 years and boost the number covered by the program to 11 million.
The measure -- funded primarily by increasing the federal tax on cigarettes by 61 cents, to $1 a pack -- sailed through the House earlier Wednesday on a largely party-line vote of 290 to 135. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill last week.
The swift passage came in marked contrast to the economic recovery package, which is mired in debate on Capitol Hill despite pleas from Obama for congressional action.
The bill was an early benchmark in the Democrats' planned campaign to reshape the nation's healthcare system over the next two years.
"The way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children . . . is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American," Obama said before signing the bill in the East Room of the White House.
The new president also drew on language from an earlier era, when Washington more openly embraced the expansion of the government-funded safety net. "We're not a nation that leaves struggling families to fend for themselves," he said.
SCHIP, as the program is called, was created in the late 1990s when President Clinton and a Republican Congress addressed concerns that some families who earned too much to qualify for public assistance through Medicaid could not afford insurance for their children.
The federal poverty line for a family of four was $21,200 in 2008, while family insurance premiums averaged about $12,680, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured in Washington.
