President Bush vetoed a bill seeking to add $35 billion to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) [complete article in Cigar Aficionado], but the SCHIP program is still running.
This bill, financed by taxes on tobacco products, including a big increase in the tax on cigars to $3 each, has been spurred by proponents of children’s health care and socialized medicine. Is the fourth veto by Bush during his seven years as President. He said he would be willing to work with Democrats to find a bill he could accept, making some increase in funding from present levels but will not accept ‘the desire by some in Washington, D.C., to federalize health care.’
Anyway, the war of the cigar killers starts state by state. First one is Oregon: voters getting an earful on tobacco tax initiative [Read the article in Cigar Cyclopedia].
