House Votes to Expand Children's Health Program from Truthout

Washington - Congress took the first small step Wednesday toward what Democrats promise will produce universal health care coverage for the first time in the United States under the new Obama administration. The doubts and disagreements that killed President Bill Clinton's efforts in 1993, they said, are giving way to powerful forces for reform.

    In passing an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, twice vetoed by President Bush as too costly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, declared, "40 days in Iraq equals one year of insurance for 10 million children. Certainly, we can afford to do that." The bill is set for Senate passage today, and President-elect Barack Obama said it will be among the first bills he signs, calling it "not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens."

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