The White House confirmed late Thursday some details of President Bush's scheduled visit to Lancaster County next week.

Bush will speak to invited members of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday at one of the buildings owned in the county by Jay Group Inc.

The White House has not released the location for the president's speech, but it's likely it will be the company's main building at 60 N. Ronks Road in Ronks, East Lampeter Township.

Bush is expected to talk about the ongoing dispute over the budget between the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress.

"He's going to urge the Congress to send him a fiscally responsible budget," White House spokesman Alex Conant said Thursday. "We're working with Congress, but some members of Congress want to spend irresponsibly. The president proposed a fiscally responsible budget, and that's what we're fighting for."

The most recent budget battle is over the government-sponsored children's health care program, called SCHIP. Both houses of Congress this week passed a bill to expand SCHIP during the next five years by adding $35 billion.

Bush has proposed $5 billion instead of $35 billion and has threatened to veto the Democratic proposal.

Many states would like to use the money to expand their children's health care programs by raising the income threshold for eligibility.

Pennsylvania last year raised the income threshold, but SCHIP is set to expire Sunday unless Congress and Bush can resolve their issues.

"The president wants to continue the program, whereas some Democrats are irresponsibly trying to expand the program to cover people who are already covered by private insurance," Conant said.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., a Democrat who is Pennsylvania's junior senator, voted to support the $35 billion expansion.

"A consensus in Congress, 43 governors and working families across America hope that the president will reconsider his intention to veto this bipartisan legislation," he said Thursday. "This program gives peace of mind to mothers and fathers who worry about their children's health and their future."

Bush has slammed the Democrats' plan as a step toward universal health care provided by the federal government.

Tom Baldrige, president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, said he's looking forward to hearing about White House policymaking from the president himself.

"I think it's always a great opportunity to go beyond the sound bites and actually hear a discussion about policies," Baldrige said. "That would be the hope, that we would be able to hear directly from the president of the United States about his policies affecting the economy."

Baldrige said information on how chamber members can obtain tickets will be available by noon today at www.lancasterchamber.com. Tickets for the event will be available only to chamber members.

Bush's visit is being denounced by those who oppose the administration's policies, particularly the war in Iraq.

Bill Adams, a volunteer with the Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice, which is organizing anti-Bush rallies to coincide with next week's visit, said he believes many people are fed up with both the White House and Congress for not changing the direction of the Iraq conflict, which has claimed the lives of about 3,800 American troops.

"We clearly demonstrated through our vote (in 2006 that gave Democrats control of Congress) that we want the war to start winding down," Adams said. "And he responded by increasing the troop level. We've written letters to our congressmen, people have spoken to our congressmen, and we're not seeing the results that we wanted.

"Now, we need to get more visible and get more in the face of our government."

The coalition will rally on Penn Square at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Adams said more protests are being planned for Wednesday.

Dave Dumeyer, chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Committee, said Republicans should be feeling some pride about Bush's visit.

"People should be very, very proud to have him coming to Lancaster a fifth time (during his presidency) to use the county as a backdrop of a major policy issue," Dumeyer said. "We should be proud we fare so well in his estimation."

The Jay Group, established in 1965 by chairman J. Freeland Chryst, is a marketing and fulfillment company with annual sales exceeding $50 million.

The company is building a new corporate headquarters in West Hempfield Township's Stony Battery Corporate Center. It is expected to be completed in December.

Along with its current headquarters in Ronks, it has smaller operations in New Holland, Smoketown and Elizabethtown.

E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com