儿童保险起争议(1)【沪江标准VOA10-22】
US Lawmakers Fail to Override Presidential Veto of Child Health Care Bill (1/2)
Democrats needed to change the minds of enough lawmakers to override the veto of legislation expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, one of the most fiercely fought domestic issues in recent times.
In a 273 to 156 vote, Democrats fell 13 short of the 280 seat votes needed for a two-thirds majority of those voting. Overrides require two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate. When the Senate passed the bill in September, it achieved a veto-proof majority.
Under the program created in 1997, the federal government and U.S. states assist children whose parents earn too much to qualify for the massive government Medicaid program, but not enough to afford private insurance.
About nine million children 18 and younger have no health insurance, while congressional budget statistics show about 6.5 million children and 671,000 adults received health insurance under the program in 2006.
The legislation Congress approved proposed to expand funding by about $35 billion during the next five years.
But President Bush said this would unreasonably expand the role of the government in health care. He proposed a much lower $5 billion expansion, adding that the program had grown to cover too many adults, and too many children in middle-income families.
参考译文：
民主党员有必要争取足数的立法者，使得被（总统）否决的“增加儿童卫生保险投资计划”的立法提议重获通过。
（对这项提议的）投票结果是273票同意，156票反对，离获得通过的三分之二同意票数即286票还差13票。重议的条件是获得参众两院的三分之二同意票数。九月份参议院通过此议案的时候，获得的是不可推翻的绝大多数投票。
这个计划始于1997年，根据这个计划，联邦政府和美国各州为一些孩子提供（医疗）资助，这些孩子父母的收入只够享受政府的大众医疗补贴计划，却不足以承受个人保险。
大约900万18岁及以下儿童没有获得卫生保险，而国会预算的统计数字显示2006年接受这个卫生保险计划的儿童是650万，成人67.1万。
国会通过的立法提议提出在接下来的五年里增加350亿的保险基金。
但是布什总统说这项计划可能会无理扩大政府在卫生医疗方面的作用。他建议一个低很多的数字，增加50亿基金，并说这个计划已经发展到照顾太多的成人和太多中等收入家庭的孩子。
