The White House repeated Monday that President Bush is open to a compromise with Democratic congressional leaders once his veto of a $35 billion expansion of children’s health programs is sustained.

Bush would be willing to accept more than the $5 billion expansion of the program over five years that he requested initially, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, reacting to comments Sunday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week” that Bush had not sought any compromise.

“Well, the president made an overture. He made an offer to sit down and find common ground,” Fratto said, adding that it was rejected by congressional leaders.

The House will vote Oct. 18 on overriding Bush’s Oct. 3 veto of the bill (HR 976), which would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, by $35 billion over five years, to $60 billion.

The expansion, Democrats say, would provide health coverage to 10 million children whose families are low-income but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid — about 4 million more than the program now covers.

The cost of the expansion would be offset by tobacco tax increases, including a 61-cent increase in the cigarette tax, to $1 per pack.

In her appearance on “This Week,” Pelosi said the Democrats would insist on covering “no lower number than 10 million children.”