Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House of Representatives failed to override President George W. Bush's veto of a measure to expand a children's health insurance program, producing a call for compromise by the administration.

The 273-156 vote today fell 13 short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a veto. The measure would have added $35 billion over five years to the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Bush has said the legislation would have provided government health insurance to middle-class families who can afford private coverage. The program, known as Schip, has become the focus of a broader national debate over the role of government in providing care to the 47 million Americans who don't have insurance. The administration today asked Democrats who control Congress to negotiate on a version that would put ``poor children first.''

``As it is clear that this legislation lacks sufficient support to become law, now is the time for Congress to stop playing politics and to join the president in finding common ground to reauthorize this vital program,'' White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement after the vote.

Democrats responded that they wouldn't back down from key provisions of the vetoed measure.

Congressional leaders ``will not allow this to deter us from our goal, which is to insure 10 million children in America,'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a press conference. The legislation vetoed by Bush would have increased enrollment in the health program to 10 million children from 6 million currently.

Fourth Veto

Bush has vetoed four measures during his presidency: two that would have loosened restrictions on U.S. funding for stem- cell research, one on Iraq war spending and the children's health measure. None has been overridden.

In the vote today, 44 Republicans defected from Bush to join most Democrats in seeking an override. Two Democrats joined the majority of Republican in opposition.

``Today we face an awesome responsibility to do what is right for American children,'' Representative John Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who shepherded the bill through committee, said during House debate. ``These are the most vulnerable people in our society. We will be judged on how we care for them.''

Republican opponents said the measure would permit adults to sign up for government insurance and cause middle-class families to drop private insurance they already have.

`Doesn't Live Up'

``We are all for health care for children of the working poor,'' said Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican. ``This doesn't live up to its name. It doesn't live up to what it's supposed to do.''

Republicans accuse Democrats of expanding Schip as a step toward government-run health insurance for all, while Democrats say the private market isn't working for everyone. Bush proposed in January providing tax incentives to make insurance more affordable.

Congress needs to reach a compromise with the administration on funding for Schip and then ``we would like to get on to the bigger discussion of how every American can get health insurance they can afford,'' said Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, said in a telephone interview today.

Martinez Alternative

Senator Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, proposed an alternative today adding $11.5 billion to the children's insurance program as well as a $1,400-a-family tax credit to help make private insurance more affordable, according to spokesman Ken Lundberg. The credit would go to families earning $41,300 to $62,000.

For Democrats, a compromise acceptable to Bush may not be good policy or good election-year politics, said Dennis W. Johnson, a professor of political management at George Washington University in Washington.

``If you're a Democrat, you may be thinking, `Maybe it's good if we do lose' because you can hold it up as a poster boy of what's wrong with the Republican Party,'' Johnson said in an interview before the vote.

The tensions over Schip erupted in a dispute during the House debate when Representative Pete Stark, a California Democrat, made remarks on the war in Iraq. Republican Representative Joe Barton of Texas stopped the debate to ask that Stark be admonished for inappropriate comments.

While the House chair, Democrat Ellen Tauscher of California, ruled those comments weren't out of order, Republicans denounced remarks Stark had made earlier.

Stark's Remarks

Republicans will spend to ``blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement,'' Stark said, according to a copy of the remarks from his office.

Those comments ``cross all lines of decency and decorum,'' said Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican in the House, in a statement.

Two out of three Americans opposed Bush's decision to veto expanded funding for Schip, according to a survey by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and National Public Radio.

The poll, released yesterday, found that 35 percent of those surveyed would be less likely to back a member of Congress who voted against the Schip measure.

The survey also found agreement with Bush's key argument. While 66 percent of Americans support government care for kids in families earning about $40,000, just 32 percent backed subsidized aid for families with incomes of about $60,000.

State Flexibility

The conflict over Schip rests partly on whether the legislation gives states too much flexibility to enroll kids from middle-income families. The program originally was intended for families with incomes up to 200 percent of the poverty level, currently $41,300 for a family of four.

Over the years, some states expanded eligibility, citing higher costs of living. Eight states, plus Washington, D.C., allow kids to enroll if their parents have incomes up to $62,000 for a family of four, according to the Kaiser foundation, a health-care policy center based in Menlo Park, California. New Jersey allows children in families earning up to $72,300,

Bush has said the measure he vetoed would permit families earning as much as $83,000 a year to enroll their kids. The administration recently rejected a request by New York state to raise eligibility to that level.

Supporters of the legislation said it includes incentives for states to focus on low-income children. States pay about 30 percent of the costs, and the measure would reduce U.S. funding for kids in families earning more than $62,000.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aliza Marcus in Washington at amarcus8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 18, 2007 16:55 EDT