On 29 December, president George W. Bush signed into law a temporary extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

The legislation extends the program that covers about 6.6 million poor children through 31 March 2009, leaving decisions about renewal to the next president and Congress.
Bush twice vetoed more ambitious earlier bills that would have expanded the children's health program to cover about 10 million children in low and moderate income families, despite bipartisan support. He also objected to raising tobacco taxes to pay for the proposed expansion of SCHIP. The Democratic-pushed bills would have expanded the program by US$ 35 billion.
Bush said the previous bills were too costly and would push more children into government-run health care instead of private plans. (pi)