Insurance bill puts Reichert on spot

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert faces a political dilemma as the U.S. House prepares this week to debate the expansion of a federal program that funds health care for needy children.

If he supports the Democrat-backed bill, the Auburn Republican risks angering his party leaders whose help — and money — he needs for next year's congressional election.

If he votes against it, he could be painted as a foe of children's health care by Democratic challengers in a district that has become more Democratic over the years.

For now, Reichert isn't talking publicly about how he'll vote. He repeatedly declined requests to comment for this story.

Reichert is among a small group of moderate Republicans being pressured by the Democratic Caucus to back the Democrats' bill instead of an alternative proposed by Republicans.

The caucus has issued news releases calling on Reichert to support children's health care.

Reichert, a second-term congressman, narrowly survived his 2006 re-election bid, beating Democratic challenger Darcy Burner with 51 percent of the vote.

"He's a classic congressman in a marginal district," said Bryan Jones, director of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy at the University of Washington.

"What he probably wants to avoid is a vote on a bill that could be detected too easily in campaign ads. The problem with the [children's health-care] bill is that it is can paint him as: 'He's for tobacco and against kids,' " Jones said.

The expansion of the health-care program would be paid for in part with higher federal tobacco taxes.

The program at issue, State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), currently covers about 6 million children nationwide. It expires after September if Congress takes no action.

The House bill drafted by Democrats would renew SCHIP for five more years and increase spending to $75 billion, covering an estimated 5 million additional children.

That would be $50 billion more than the Congressional Budget Office estimates would be needed to maintain the current funding level.

The House bill would pay for the program in part by raising the cigarette tax by 45 cents a pack. It also would cut money for Republican-backed Medicare Advantage programs that provide seniors with health coverage from private insurers.

A companion bill in the Senate proposes a less-ambitious $60 billion program.

President Bush has said he would veto a dramatic expansion of SCHIP, saying it's a back-door way to implement government-controlled universal health care.

The Senate version of the bill, approved by the Finance Committee last week, gained support from six of the panel's 10 Republicans and is expected to pass the full Senate this week.