Days after he vetoed a children’s health insurance program, President Bush asked Congress for almost $196 billion that the Pentagon says is needed to keep combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year. The president says, “Our men and women on the front lines should not be caught in the middle of partisan disagreements in Washington, D.C.” Well Mr. President, neither should America’s children.

The additional spending Bush requested likely would bring total Iraq war spending to more than $600 billion. The current cost of the war in Iraq is about $10 billion per month If it is hard to get your head around a number that big, think of it another way. It amounts to $322,580,645 per day, $13,440,860 per hour, $224,014 per minute.

Meanwhile, Bush vetoed the bipartisan compromise bill that would have extended the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a bill that 81 percent of Americans supported, according to a poll for CBS News.

Senator Bernie Sanders wonders how the president can spend $10 billion a month to fund the war in Iraq, but can’t support $7 billion a year to expand children’s health care.

“I think that that is totally absurd. I think that the Congress has got to stand tall. I think the American people want us to stand tall,” Sanders told Vermont Public Radio. “I personally believe that every kid in America should have health insurance and I think we have got to tell the president, Sorry, we’re going to be sending the legislation back to you and if you want to continue to veto it that’s your right, but our job is to make sure that kids in this country have health insurance.'”

To listen to a Vermont Public Radio report on the future of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, click here.