Joe Barton: “At that time, we were told that we didn't have time for that, that we had to move that bill before September 30 so that…”

“At that time, we were told that we didn't have time for that, that we had to move that bill before September 30 so that the children of America wouldn't lose their health insurance. Well, that bill, the CHAMP Act, passed this body. It never was brought up in the other body. Thankfully, it is gone. So you would think that with the continuing resolution that passed last week, we would now have some time to look at the SCHIP issue on a bipartisan basis here in the House and come up with a compromise that could be passed and signed by the President before the continuing resolution expires on, I think, November 16. What we are being told today is that since the President vetoed the bill, we don't want to vote on the veto today, we want to postpone it, I believe, until October 18. Now, why is that? If it was such a rush last month, you would think that it would still be a rush now and they would want to get the veto out of the way and then work together to come up with a bill that the President would sign. So it would seem to me that the Democrats are saying, Well, let's have a 2-week period here to try to play politics with this. I think that is wrong. I checked with the Parliamentarian about when was the last time a motion to postpone a veto was authorized by the House. It is not done very often. The last time was 1996. So I would hope we would defeat this motion to postpone and let me offer a substitute motion to refer the veto to the committee of jurisdiction.”