From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The White House, the Congress, and insurance for poor children.

Hello again, I'm Armonolny, and this is To the Point.

From Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

President Bush is adamant he'll veto expansion of the state children's health insurance program

despite the advice of a lot of conservative allies. So many Republican senators face trouble next

year, the upper house gave the bill a veto-proof majority. Democrats already are running ads to

pressure more House Republicans to support

increasing the popular program. On To the Point, we'll hear the pros and cons of extending

government coverage to 4 million uninsured kids for five years. How does it compare to funding

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year alone? On reporter's notebook later on, the U.S. Supreme

Court, back in session., first here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Mormon. I'll be back with To the Point. Some of the

Senate's most powerful conservatives want President Bush to approve expansion of the state

children's health insurance program, S-CHIP. But he says he'll veto it anyway. On To the Point,

we'll look at the pros and cons and compare the

cost to funding war in Iraq and Afghanistan. On reporter's notebook, the first day of the U.S. Supreme

Court's new term, we'll hear the cases they rejected and the ones they're going to take up

later this term. First, this news update, civilian deaths from violence dropped by 50% across

Iraq last month with a comparable

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