Senate rejected Republicans' proposal to expand a children's health insurance program
28 01 09 - 11:38
GOP proposal on children's health fails in Senate
By KEVIN FREKING - The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans have fallen short in their effort to expand a children's health insurance program to cover an additional 2 million uninsured children.
The Senate rejected the Republican proposal by a 65-32 vote. Democratic lawmakers say the GOP's legislation didn't go far enough, covering only about half of the number of uninsured children that the Democrats' bill would cover.
Republicans argued that their bill was more focused on helping low-income families and did not rely on tax increases to pay for the additional spending. The GOP's proposal also would not have allowed federal funding to cover children of newly arrived legal immigrants, as the Democratic bill allows.