Heller stands by opposition to bill expanding children’s health insurance =

By Lisa Mascaro

Friday, Oct. 26, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Despite being pummeled by ads and protests, Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., stood his ground Thursday and again voted against an expansion of a popular children's health insurance program. And he wasn't alone.

No additional Republicans in the House crossed the aisle to support the Democrats' second attempt to pass legislation that President Bush vetoed this month. Democrats again came up short of a veto-proof majority.

With his opposition, Heller is establishing his fiscally conservative credentials in his Republican-leaning, mostly rural district. The bill would increase the cigarette tax to $1 a pack to pay for a $35 billion expansion of health care coverage for children in working -class families.

Unlike Nevada's other Republican congressman , Rep. Jon Porter, who initially opposed the bill but voted for it last month when objectionable provisions were eliminated, Heller remains unmoved. Porter was also bombarded with protests in his swing district.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program provides insurance for 6 million kids nationwide, including 30,000 in Nevada. The proposed expansion would allow up to 10 million children to be enrolled in the next five years.

Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley has voted consistently in favor of the bill.

The program is designed for families that earn more income than is allowed for poverty programs but that cannot afford to buy health insurance. In Nevada, families making $40,000 or less qualify. More than 100,000 Nevada children are eligible.

Bush wants to essentially keep the program at its current levels.

Democrats have made children's health care a signature domestic policy issue and have signaled they will continue turning up the heat on Republicans by bringing the bill back for more votes. The issue is expected to be used in the 2008 congressional elections.

Democrats changed the bill slightly this week in hope of bringing more Republicans on board.

But Heller was not impressed. "Unfortunately, the new SCHIP bill is the same as the old one," he said in a statement.

After Bush's veto last week, Heller joined more than three dozen House Republicans in sending the president a letter expressing their hope that a compromise could be reached between the administration and Congress.

Heller reiterated that desire after Thursday's vote but said the new bill didn't go far enough. "This legislation still covers adults, provides taxpayer funded health benefits to illegal immigrants and includes an unnecessary tax increase."

Heller first voted against the program in September, arguing against provisions he said allowed coverage for illegal immigrant children and families making up to $83,000. Those were popular Republican talking points also used by the president.

Democrats altered the bill this week to reduce the $83,000 income limit allowed for families in New York because of that state's high cost of living. The new version also required additional documentation in cases when a child's immigration status was questionable.

Doug Thornell, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said , "Republicans have chosen to remain on an isolated desert island with only George Bush ... (Heller) is going to have to explain why he continues to oppose health care for 10 million children."