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Congress and President Bush faced off over children’s health care this week, as Bush vetoed a $35 billion expansion of a government insurance program and Democrats launched a spirited campaign to override him. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, covers children from families that are not poor enough for Medi­caid. The new bill would have allowed families with higher incomes to be eligible, increasing the pool of covered children by about 4 million. Bush has called the change an enormously expensive step toward “government-run” medicine.

The Senate passed the bill with enough votes to override a veto, but the House fell about 25 votes shy. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this week started running radio ads attacking eight GOP House members who voted against the measure. But Democrats conceded they were unlikely to get enough House Republicans to switch sides.

What was Bush thinking? said The Des Moines Register in an editorial. SCHIP is a highly respected program that has resulted in a 36 percent drop in the number of uninsured children in our nation. It uses private doctors and insurers, and though it is government-funded, it’s hardly socialized medicine. Bush, who has overseen a massive increase in the federal deficit, is suddenly “drawing a spending line—on health care for children, of all things.”

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Actually, it’s exactly the right place to take a stand, said The

Wall Street Journal. Big-government types always like to hide behind “the kids.” But “the real Democratic game here is to turn SCHIP into a new middle-class entitlement.” The program was originally intended to help the poor, but if Congress gets its way, families earning up to $62,000 a year would be eligible. What’s shocking isn’t Bush’s veto; it’s that so many Republicans caved to political pressure.

That’s because they understand the political repercussions, said E.J. Dionne Jr. in The Washington Post. This skirmish over health coverage is being fought “almost entirely on terms set by the new Democratic majority.” The American people care about children, and they want the government to fix the health-care crisis. If you were a politician, which side of this issue would you rather be on?