Topeka ? Lawrence’s U.S. House members Dennis Moore and Nancy Boyda, both Democrats, voted for the proposed State Children’s Health Insurance increase and say they will vote to override President Bush’s veto of the bill.

But Nick Jordan, a Republican seeking to unseat Moore in 2008, says if he were in Congress, he would support Bush’s veto.

Moore represents the 3rd Congressional District, which includes East Lawrence.

Meanwhile, the campaign of Republican Jim Ryun, who wants to unseat Boyda, criticized the proposed SCHIP bill. And Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, another Republican who also wants to challenge Boyda, declined to say whether she supported the SCHIP bill or Bush’s veto.

Boyda represents the 2nd Congressional District, which includes west Lawrence.

Congress has approved a $35 billion increase over the next five years to SCHIP, a program that provides low-cost health coverage to 6.6 million children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but earn too little to afford most private insurance policies. The increase would be funded by a 61-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax. In Kansas, the program provides health care to approximately 35,000 children.

Bush vetoed the proposed increase, saying it was too expensive and would lead to socialized medicine by luring some families from private insurance to government-run insurance.

Ryun’s campaign manager, Kyle Robertson, sided with Bush.

“We need to find a responsible way to fund the program without raising taxes or making it easier for illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded health care,” Robertson said.

But supporters of the bill have denied that the program would go toward illegal immigrants, saying that a provision requiring people to show Social Security cards would prevent that from happening.

Jenkins, who will face Ryun in the Republican primary, declined to answer what she would have done about the bill if she were in Congress.

“I haven’t looked closely at the specific proposals, and unfortunately with everything as partisan as it is in Congress these days, folks can’t work out a compromise,” she said. “It seems to me that a Congress and president concerned about budgets and health care could come to a compromise instead of typical Washington gridlock.”

Both Moore and Boyda have been supporters of the SCHIP bill, which passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support.

Moore said the proposal makes SCHIP “stronger and more efficient.”

Boyda stated: “SCHIP has not only proven successful at covering uninsured children, but it’s cost-effective to taxpayers. Health insurance prevents low-income families from using the emergency room – the most expensive health care resource – as a first-stop clinic.”