WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush vetoed on Wednesday a bipartisan bill to dramatically expand children's healthcare program, igniting the fuse of a new round of battles with congressional democrats over domestic spending.

    The veto, the fourth one ever in Bush's presidency since 2001, aborted the legislation that would have provided to the states to carry out the children's health program with an extra 35 billion U.S. dollars over five years raised through tobacco product taxes.

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks about the budget during a trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania October 3, 2007. Bush vetoed on Wednesday a bipartisan bill to dramatically expand children's healthcare program. 
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) 
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    A total of some 10 million children would have benefited from the program, according to supporters of the bill.

    However, the White House argued that the bill was too costly and far beyond its original intent to help the poor, and it would lead people who are covered in the private sector to seek the government coverage instead, a step towards socialized medicine that short-changes the poor.

    President Bush only nodded an extra 5 billion dollars to expand the program.

    "The policies of the government ought to be, help poor children and to focus on poor children," Bush said. "And the policies of the government ought to be, help people find private insurance, not federal coverage."

    With significant help by Republicans, the democratic-dominated Senate approved the bill with two-thirds of votes enough to override the president's veto, but margin in the House of Representatives was still less than the required number.

Children shout slogans after dropping off sacks of petitions calling on U.S. President George W. Bush not to veto the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), October 1, 2007. 
(Xinhua/AFP Photo) 
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    Foreseeing Bush's veto, Democrats have vowed through a series of TV ads, among others, to pull over more Republicans who have voted against the bill. The White House, for its part, also threatened to veto more annual funding bills if necessary, sticking to the domestic spending ceiling of the 2007-2008 fiscal year at 933 billion dollars.

    Official statistics show that more than seven in ten people in the United States who are not covered by health insurance are under 18 years old.

    According to recent polls of the Washington Post and ABC News, more than seven in ten Americans supported the bill and many of them wanted to reduce war spending in the Iraq war.

    Congressional democrats talked back shortly after the veto was made behind closed-door in the White House. "It's very sad that the president has chosen to veto a bill that would provide healthcare for 10 million American children for the next five years," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

    Senate Majority (Democrats) leader Harry Reid said President Bush, with the veto, "has turned his back" on American children and "he stands alone."

    The veto of Bush was seen by analysts as a high-risk gamble that might impair his party's efforts to compete with democrats for the next presidency and the dominance in Congress.