As expected, the House on Thursday failed to override President Bush’s veto of a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Jewish groups were quick to express their disappointment, but the flurry of press releases barely concealed its depths.

“The failure to renew this bipartisan program will have real-life consequences for millions of children and their families for whom insurance is unaffordable or even simply unavailable,” said Phyllis Snyder, president of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).

Groups like NCJW and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism went all out to beat the veto, but leaders of the SCHIP push conceded it was an uphill fight from the start.

Why did SCHIP, which funds state programs that help provide coverage to children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, too little for private insurance, take on such urgency for Jewish groups?

Part of it was simply the obvious imperative of expanding what even many Republicans agree is a successful program and starting to make a dent in the growing population of the uninsured.

“People really felt that a lot of factors were coming into alignment,” said NCJW’s Sammie Moshenberg. “It had bipartisan support; it involved children’s health. It was a real opportunity.”

But the effort also had a lot to do with the desperate politics of human services in these days of tax cuts, tight budgets and government cutbacks.

Backers of a strong government health and human services safety net have been engaged in a fighting retreat for years. They believe the idea of the SCHIP program is so basic that it was an appropriate place to draw a line in the sand.

With a loss on SCHIP, despite significant Republican support and Democratic control of both Houses of Congress, what chance do they have of expanded programs to cover the 40-million-and-rising population of Americans without any health coverage?

That also explains why some conservatives are so vehemently against it, calling it the foot in the door to socialized medicine. If they can beat the Democrats on basic insurance coverage for kids, you can kiss more ambitious proposals good bye.

Congressional and administration officials are expected to start negotiations over a compromise SCHIP package, but in private many Jewish leaders say the fight for a major expansion is probably over for now.

Still, Mik Moore of the Jewish Funds for Justice said all is not lost in the wake of the veto override failure; the huge commitment to SCHIP by groups across the political spectrum and around the country laid the groundwork for broader efforts in the future – especially if there is a political realignment in Washington after the 2008 elections.

“In a way, it was a win-win situation,” he said. ‘You’re either winning a victory for 4 million children who need health coverage – or you’re building a movement for expanded health care for all Americans.”

For a good analysis of the thinking of Jewish groups supporting the SCHIP expansion, check out this item on JSPOT, the Jewish Funds for Justice blog.