Senate votes to expand kids’ health insurance

? The Senate passed legislation Thursday to add 3 million lower-income children to a popular health insurance program in bipartisan defiance of President Bush’s threatened veto.

The 68-31 vote, one day after the House passed a more ambitious and expensive version over bitter Republican opposition, handed Democrats a solid achievement to trumpet as they leave Washington for a summer break.

Bush has proposed spending $5 billion to extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. He says the Senate’s $35 billion expansion would balloon the decade-old program beyond its original mission of covering working poor children.