WASHINGTON (CNN) — The newly empowered Democratic majority flexed its political muscle Wednesday as the House of Representatives voted to expand a key federal health care program to an estimated 4 million additional children.
President Obama is expected to sign the children’s health bill on Wednesday afternoon.
The 290-135 vote to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program fell largely along party lines, with almost every Democrat voting in favor of the expansion and most Republicans voting against it.
President Obama is expected to sign the bill late Wednesday afternoon; the Senate passed it Friday.
"As the worsening economy causes families to lose their jobs and health insurance, it is vital that we redouble our efforts to ensure that every child in America has access to affordable health care," the president said in a statement after Senate passage last week.
The program, known as SCHIP, currently covers more than 6 million children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid — the federal health insurance program for the poor — but who can’t afford private insurance.
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The bill approved by Congress expands SCHIP by roughly $35 billion over five years. It will be financed with a 62-cent-per-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes.
Opponents of the legislation have argued that, among other things, it will allow undocumented immigrants to illegally access taxpayer-financed health care, and is insufficiently funded.
President Bush vetoed two similar bills in 2007, arguing at the time that the legislation would have encouraged families to leave the private insurance market for the federally funded, state-run program.
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