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WASHINGTON — Changes made to the State Children's Health Insurance Program bill — in an unsuccessful effort to win more Republican support — could make it more difficult for New Mexico officials to administer.

The Richardson administration supports the amended legislation, nevertheless.

"We understand the need for compromise," said Carolyn Ingram, director of New Mexico Medicaid.

The House approved the revised SCHIP bill 265-142 on Oct. 25, still short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a potential veto by President Bush.

After failing to override Bush's veto of the original SCHIP bill last week, Democratic leaders made changes to try to win more Republican support but without lowering the $35 billion price tag or changing the goal of adding 4 million children to a program that now covers 6 million.

One of the changes would give states just one year to remove childless adults from the program — the first bill had a two-year phase-out. New Mexico is one of the states given federal waivers to cover adults through the program.

Ingram said the shorter timetable would be "uncomfortable" for the state and that it would probably ask for another federal waiver. But she said the state's goal is to cover only children and some parents with SCHIP dollars.

The new bill also says no state could insure children in families earning more than 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

In New Mexico, 300 percent of federal poverty level for a family of four is $5,163 a month. Ingram said the state would have no problem meeting that requirement.

The new bill also strengthens requirements that states cross-check the Social Security numbers of applicants.

Ingram said that could slow down processing for applicants, but added that the state has never discovered illegal immigrants to be an SCHIP problem. In fact, some children who are born here and thus citizens are not enrolled because their parents are afraid to apply, she said.

Ingram is anxious for Congress to reauthorize SCHIP before the Legislature convenes in January to take up Gov. Bill Richardson's plan to expand health care insurance to all New Mexicans, and in particular how the state will deal with childless adults.

Authorization for the current SCHIP program expires Nov. 16.

Rep. Heather Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican, again bucked the majority of her party and Bush to vote for the bill.

But Wilson criticized Democratic leaders for partisan maneuvering when they would not delay the vote until next week to accommodate members who wanted to read the 283-page bill and California members who had gone home because of this week's massive wildfires.

"It's too bad people in Washington can't get beyond partisan demagoguery to find common ground on this bipartisan issue," said Wilson. "Today's disappointing debate is another example of why the American people don't think very highly of Congress."

Senate Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said complaints about the process were "hype" and that no Republicans had come forward to support the new bill despite Democrats' efforts to respond to GOP complaints.

"I don't want to be strung along for purposes of delay," said Hoyer.

Rep. Steve Pearce, the Hobbs Republican who is opposing Wilson for the U.S. Senate nomination next year, again voted against the bill, saying the changes were "cosmetic."

He said it is wrong to tax New Mexicans to pay for a program when the state had to return $30 million in SCHIP funds to the federal treasury.

Ingram said that occurred in 2003 when New Mexico was grappling with the fact that the law would not let the state use the SCHIP funds to cover as many low-income children as officials wanted. Later, the state received federal waivers to cover adults.

"We won't be returning any more unspent SCHIP funds," said Ingram.

After Pearce voted to sustain the president's veto, his campaign placed a conference call to thousands of New Mexico Republicans to explain the vote. The Wilson campaign raised a question about the propriety of those calls, because he directed listeners to a statement on the issue at his House Web site.

House ethics rules forbid campaigns from citing House Web sites in campaign literature or Web sites.

Pearce said the House ethics committee advised him that mentioning the Web site during a campaign phone call was a "gray area" in terms of a violation, but that he probably should not do it again. Pearce said he won't.

Rep. Tom Udall, a Santa Fe Democrat, voted for the bill.