Members of the Senate Finance Committee said today they have reached agreement on the framework for an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Under the bipartisan agreement, the expansion would cost $35 billion over five years — significantly short of the $50 billion increase sought by Democratic congressional leaders and included in the congressional budget resolution (S Con Res 21). The expansion would be funded with a 61-cent increase in the 39-cent federal cigarette tax, to an even $1 per pack.

“There is general bipartisan support on the committee” for the SCHIP agreement, said Sen. Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., who has pressed for a tobacco tax increase to pay for the program’s expansion. Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., who has been negotiating a compromise on the bill for months, said his committee would likely vote on the bill July 17.

SCHIP is a state-federal insurance program covering about 6 million children and about 600,000 adults. It is intended to cover children of low-income families not poor enough to qualify for the larger Medicaid program.

The committee proposal could be too small an expansion to suit some Democrats and too expensive for many Republicans. President Bush proposed a far smaller increase for SCHIP combined with tax deductions or credits for middle-income families to help them buy health insurance.