Obama lauds children's healthcare vote

President-elect Barack Obama praised today's vote by the US House to expand government healthcare subsidies to 4 million more children.

The program is aimed to children in working families, and could help drive down the number of uninsured Americans as Obama and Congress work on broader health reform.

The bill, passed 289 to 139 vote, would increase federal taxes on cigarettes by 61 cents to a dollar a pack to pay the $32.3 billion cost of expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program for the next 4 1/2 years. President Bush vetoed similar legislation twice in 2007.

“In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child in America has access to affordable healthcare is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens," Obama said in a statement. "That is why I’m so pleased that Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives came together to provide health insurance to over ten million children whose families have been hurt most by this downturn. This coverage is critical, it is fully paid for, and I hope that the Senate acts with the same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am President.”