Obama's five-day rule: Broken again

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Obama's five-day rule: Broken again

by Rebecca Cole

Hey, what about Obama's five-day rule?

Congress today passed a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, allocating an additional $32.8 billion in funding for the program over the next four and a half years. President Barack Obama plans to sign the bill into law in a White House ceremony later this afternoon.

Yet one of Obama's campaign promises -- the "Sunlight Before Signing" pledge -- was that he would not sign any non-emergency bills without offering the public five days to review and comment on the legislation.

The measure, which passed the House by a vote of 290-135, including 40 Republicans supporting it, calls for a 62-cent increase in the federal tax on cigarettes, bringing the total tax to $1 per pack. Jointly financed by federal and state governments, SCHIP currently insures about 7.4 million children. The new bill will help states insure an additional 4 million kids.

The House adopted the Senate's version of the bill which passed last week, one that closely hews to the SCHIP reauthorization bills that former President Bush vetoed in 2007. The version that passed today strips a controversial clause that would have banned physician self-referral to hospitals in which they have an ownership interest.

This is the second bill that Obama will sign without allowing the public a full five days to review the legislation. Last week, Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act only two days after final passage in the House.

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