Democratic leaders on Tuesday moved quickly to shift public attention to President Bush’s expected veto of a children’s health insurance program from a surtax to pay for the war in Iraq.
Democrats had been reveling in their good fortune, believing they had a winning issue in legislation to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which Bush is expected to veto Wednesday.
But three senior Democrats floated a proposal to impose a surtax, a levy on a percentage of citizens’ tax bills, to fund the war in Iraq.
Republicans pounced to criticize the plan while Democratic leaders did their best to appear undeterred by the bump in the road.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) shot down the idea Tuesday afternoon. At two press conferences, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) reiterated that the proposal was “not a Democratic, not a party proposal.”
“It’s hard to believe you could pick a worse time to do something to divide the caucus than the day Democrats and Republicans come together on both an Iraq bill and in sending the children’s health bill to the president,” a Democratic leadership aide said. “The timing of this announcement made no sense.”
“[Rep. David] Obey [D-Wis.] understands that it is not going anywhere, but he sees it as an opportunity to focus the debate early on cost of the war,” another senior Democratic leadership aide said of the member behind the surtax move. “SCHIP is not going anywhere.”
Other aides wondered why Obey simply did not wait another day before bringing the suggestion to the fore.