House votes to sustain SCHIP veto.

First off, I am proud that all 5 Republicans from the Alabama delegation voted to uphold the veto. Only the Democrats, Artur Davis and Bud Cramer voted to override. Republicans stood firm against moving American in the direction of socialized medicine today, voting 273-156 to sustain President Bush’s veto of the $35-billion expansion of SCHIP. Michelle Malkin has an excellent recap of today’s events and Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters blogged about the debate from start to finish. Today at 3 p.m. Republicans will unveil their alternative.

I expect the Republican alternative to be the first step towards a compromise. Apparently there was no discussion of a compromise between party leaders the first time. Then we will see how much the Democratic leadership wants to back down. They outright lost this round. Any new bill or compromise is another win for Republicans including President Bush and thus a loss for excessive spending, middle-class entitlements, and liberal policies. I choose to ignore the fact that President Bush is a few years and many spending bills too late to the ideas of fiscal restraint, limited government, and the veto pen. At this moment I am just glad he finally came around.